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.
Ferndale is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms part of the Detroit metropolitan area. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,105. Ferndale is primarily residential, with a small industrial sector featured in the southeast part of the city. Ferndale's thriving business district is anchored by the intersection of Woodward Avenue and 9 Mile Road, where privately owned shops, unique storefronts, dance clubs, bars and numerous well visited restaurants are featured. The downtown has broad sidewalks, slow traffic, and many trees and benches. Ferndale is well-known in the Detroit area for its LGBT (non-heterosexual) population and progressive politics, having elected the first openly gay mayor in the state of Michigan in 2007.