Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.
In order to avoid the adverse impact of an order of preclusion, a party must establish both a reasonable excuse for his or her default and a meritorious claim (see, Mariani v Fleishman, 160 A.D.2d 911). While the plaintiffs may have established a reasonable excuse for their default in opposing the motion to preclude and in failing to comply with the conditional order of preclusion, they have failed to establish the meritorious nature of their claim. In a medical malpractice action, expert medical opinion evidence generally is required to demonstrate merit (see, Martinelli v Hessekiel, 132 A.D.2d 691; Fiore v Galang, 64 N.Y.2d 999, 1001). Under the circumstances of this case, since no affidavit of merit from a physician was provided, we find that the Supreme Court properly granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. Balletta, J.P., Thompson, Santucci, Altman and Hart, JJ., concur.