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.
Armorel is an unincorporated township located in Mississippi County, Arkansas. A largely rural area with most of its land devoted to forests and farms, population estimates are variously given as between 300 and 500 people. Most of the town lies between U.S. Highway 18 and U.S. Highway 312. The town was founded in 1899 by lumber magnate and president of Lee Wilson and Company, R.E.L. Wilson as one of his many company holdings. Wilson was an eclectic and colorful figure with vast land holdings in the Delta area after the Civil War. Also a big believer in education, Wilson was one of the original trustees of Arkansas State University, then A & M College. He sat on the board from 1917 until his passing in 1933. The town's name was formed from the abbreviations of Arkansas and Missouri, along with the first three initials of its founder, R.E.L. Wilson.