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.
Lewes is an incorporated city in Sussex County, Delaware, United States, on the Delmarva Peninsula. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 3,116. It is part of the Seaford, Delaware, Micropolitan Statistical Area. Because Lewes was the earliest town founded in the state, and because Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution, the town refers to itself as "The first town in the first state. " Lewes is named after the town of Lewes in England, which also is situated in a county named Sussex (from which Sussex County, Delaware, takes its name). Lewes, Sussex, England, also has the same seal. Lewes and the towns of Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, Bethany Beach, South Bethany, and Fenwick Island constitute Delaware's beach resort area, Sussex County's most densely populated and fastest-growing area.