In a former employee's action against his former employer and its successor, alleging that defendant had breached a promise to grant him lucrative stock options as a condition of his employment, the trial court's denial of plaintiff's motion for new trial is reversed with instructions to grant a new trial where: 1) the court was fully empowered and indeed obligated to make an independent assessment of the adequacy of the verdict; and 2) the verdict was unmistakably unsound.