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.
Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,911 at the 2000 census. The population as of August 10, 2008 is 31,834.