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.
Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 17,639 at the 2000 census. It is home to Southeastern Louisiana University. The city was the home base for production of the first season of the NBC television series In the Heat of the Night. Hammond is the principal city of the Hammond Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Tangipahoa Parish.