Mohamed Cisse, appellant pro se.

Reed Smith LLP, New York (Kerren B. Zinner of counsel), for respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Betty Owen Stinson, J.), entered November 13, 2015, which, to the extent appealed from, granted plaintiff's motion for an order of reference and a default judgment against defendant Cisse, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

It is unnecessary to consider whether defendant demonstrated a meritorious defense to this foreclosure action, because he failed to demonstrate a reasonable excuse, or indeed any excuse, for his failure to answer the complaint or otherwise timely appear in this action, which was commenced in 2009 (see Mutual Mar. Off., Inc. v Joy Constr. Corp., 39 AD3d 417, 419 [1st Dept 2007]; see also Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v Mazzara, 124 AD3d 875 [2d Dept 2015]). Concur—Tom, J.P., Friedman, Renwick, Kahn and Kern, JJ.