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.
Tonopah is an unincorporated community in western Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, approximately 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix off Interstate 10. The community is near the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the largest nuclear power plant in the country. The name Tonopah derives from the Western Apache Tú Nohwá, meaning "Water Under a Bush", referring to its location in the Harquahala Valley, underneath which there is an extensive subterranean aquifer so that wells dug in the area never lack water. Prior to being called Tonopah, the settlement was known as Lone Peak. The area is also known to have been inhabited by the Yavapai.