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.
Desert Hot Springs, also known as DHS, is a city in Coachella Valley, Desert Empire, Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 16,582 at the 2000 census. The city had seen rapid development and high population growth since 1980 when it had 2,500 residents, to become a city with an estimated 25,000 residents in the year 2008.