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.
Rhineland is a village in Montgomery County, Missouri, United States. The population was 176 at the 2000 census, at which time it was a town. Its name came from German immigrants from the River Rhine area. Located on the north bank of the Missouri River, Rhineland was devastated by water in the Great Flood of 1993. It became the first town to accept federal funds to move out of a flood plain. All the houses in the town were moved about 1½ miles uphill.