Merrihew

Defendants appeal from an order granting a new trial and setting aside a judgment in a quiet title action. The appeal is based upon two contentions, that the order granting a new trial is fatally defective because the trial judge failed to specify the grounds and reasons for granting a new trial, as required by Code of Civil Procedure section 657, and that the original decision correctly applied the law to the facts.

The case is within the ambit of Treber v. Superior Court, 68 Cal.2d 128 [ 65 Cal.Rptr. 330 , 436 P.2d 330 ], which holds that where a trial judge fails to state the reasons for granting a new trial, as required by section 657, the reviewing court is not to summarily declare the order invalid, but must first look to the motion for new trial and ascertain the grounds upon which it is based. If the sole ground is insufficiency of the evidence, then the failure to specify reasons renders the order fatally defective. (See Mercer v. Perez, 68 Cal.2d 104 [ 65 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 436 P.2d 315 ].) Guidelines for the reviewing court are delineated in Treber , at pages 136-137: “. . . the first paragraph of the 1965 amendments to section 657 places on the trial courts a clear and…