MacHado

At the trial of these consolidated actions to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by plaintiffs in an automobile accident, verdicts were rendered against the defendants for the total sum of $3,500, and judgments in conformity therewith were entered by the clerk on the same day. Nine days afterward Maude I. Weston, one of the defendants, served and filed in each action notice of motion to set aside the judgment and to re-enter the same in her favor, non obstante veredicto; and approximately a month later the trial court granted the motions. From the orders made in that behalf plaintiffs prosecute these appeals.

Section 629 of the Code of Civil Procedure, from which the trial court derives its authority to hear and determine motions of the kind here granted; provides that “when a motion for a directed verdict, which should have been granted, has been denied and a verdict rendered against the moving party, the court, at any time before the entry of judgment, either of its own motion or on motion of the aggrieved party, shall render judgment in favor of the aggrieved party notwithstanding the verdict ...” (italics ours), and by recent cases it has been definitely settled…