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.
Madera is a city in and the county seat of Madera County, California, United States. It is a principal city of the Madera–Chowchilla Metropolitan Statistical Area,which encompasses all of Madera County. It is located in California's Central Valley. As of 2009, the city's population is about 56,710. The City of Madera is home to the Madera Unified School District.