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.
Hesperia is a city that is part of San Bernardino County, California located in the Mojave Desert 15 miles (24 km) north of San Bernardino. The locals refer to the surrounding area as the High Desert. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 62,582. In 2006, the Hesperia municipal government estimated the population at 80,000.