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.
Centralia is a city in Audrain and Boone counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 3,774 at the 2000 census. The Boone County portion of Centralia (by far the majority of the city) is part of the Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Audrain County portion is part of the Mexico Micropolitan Statistical Area.