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.
Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located 135 miles (217 km) south of Chicago, 124 miles (200 km) west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles (286 km) northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with its sibling city of Urbana. Thanks to the university and a number of well known technology startup companies, it is often referred to as the hub, or at least a significant landmark, of the Silicon Prairie. Champaign houses offices for seven Fortune 500 companies, and two more are planned to arrive soon. As reported in the 2000 U.S. Census, the city was home to 67,518 people. The city held a special census in 2007 that showed that its population had grown to 75,254. The mayor is Gerald Schweighart, whose term will expire in 2011.