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.
Carterville is a city in Williamson County, Illinois, in the United States, and is geographically situated between Carbondale, Illinois and Marion, Illinois. The city is located next to Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge's 44,000 acres (180 km) of land and water contain a wide diversity of flora and fauna . As of the 2000 census, the city population was 4,616. Carterville's long serving Mayor is Bill Mausey (D) .