Grant

Sam and Martha Evelyn Grant, husband and wife, filed an action for damages for personal injuries arising out of an automobile collision. A jury found against defendants and in favor of plaintiff Sam Grant for $450 and Martha Evelyn Grant for $1,525. Thereafter plaintiffs moved for a new trial; Sam’s motion was denied but Martha was granted a new trial. Defendants appeal from the order.

While the minute order of December 1, 1967, recites that, the motion for new trial “is granted as to plaintiff Evelyn Grant on the grounds of accident or surprise, which ordinary prudence could not have guarded against, and denied on the grounds of insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict,” the court below did not specify its reasons for granting the new trial upon the grounds stated. Appellants direct *626 our attention to the requirement under section 657, Code of Civil Procedure, as amended, 1 that the court specify its reasons within 10 days after ordering a new trial, and assert that since this is mandatory and jurisdictional and the court failed to specify its reasons for granting Martha a new trial, the order must be reversed. This contention has been decided adversely by the…