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Before Torruella, Tashima, *fn1 and Lipez, Circuit Judges.

We consider for the second time this political discrimination case, in which plaintiffs claim they were denied payment for services performed on behalf of the municipality of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, in violation of the First Amendment. In the original appeal, we vacated the district court’s dismissal of the case for failure to state a claim, holding that the plaintiffs’ complaint adequately pleaded the necessary elements of a political discrimination action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Ram¡rez v. Arlequ¡n, 447 F.3d 19, 25 (1st Cir. 2006). Subsequent to our decision, the district court reinstated the claims and eventually entered a default judgment against defendants, the municipality of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico (“the Municipality”), and its mayor, Edgardo Arlequ¡n, as a result of repeated discovery violations.

In this appeal, defendants argue that: 1) the district court abused its discretion in entering the default judgment, and 2) even in light of the default judgment, the plaintiffs cannot prevail because their complaint does not make out a prima facie case of political discrimination. For reasons we shall explain, we conclude that there was no abuse of discretion in the entry of a default judgment, and that the law of the case doctrine bars defendants’ attempt to reargue the adequacy of plaintiffs’ complaint. We therefore affirm.

 
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