A mass tort is a civil action involving numerous plaintiffs against one or a few corporate defendants. The tort may involve, for example, personal injuries suffered by numerous plaintiffs as a result of a defective product, or a mass disaster in which there were many injured persons, such as an airplane crash, or exposure of a large group of people to toxic chemicals or pharmaceuticals.
Savoonga is a city in Nome Census Area, Alaska, one of two on St Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. As of the 2000 census, Savoonga's population was 643. Savoonga was incorporated in 1969, and in 1971 became the joint owner with Gambell of the entire island. The local economy consists largely of subsistence hunting for walrus, seals, fish, and bowhead whales; the city calls itself the "Walrus Capital of the World". A dogsled mail service operated here until 1963.