Anderson v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc.

SHIVERS, Judge.

This is an interlocutory appeal from an order striking appellants’ answer and counterclaim as sanctions for failing to comply with orders of the trial court compelling discovery.

The striking of pleadings or the entering of a default judgment for noncompliance with an order compelling discovery is the most severe of all sanctions and should be employed only in extreme circumstances such as where a party acts in deliberate and contumacious disregard of the court’s authority or gross indifference to an order of court. Watson v. Peskoe, 407 So.2d 954 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); Swindle v.…