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.
Needles is a city located on the western banks of the Colorado River in San Bernardino County, California. It is located in Mojave Valley, which straddles the California–Arizona border. The city is accessible via Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 95. The population was 4,830 at the 2000 census, and was estimated at 5,700 by mid-2008. Needles was named after "The Needles," a group of pointed rocks on the Arizona side of the river. There is a relatively large Mohave community, although they are not the majority.