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.
Maxwell is a village in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 274 at the 2000 census. Unlike nearby Springer, the village has been losing population due to the rural exodus. Maxwell was established in 1879 as a railroad town on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe. It was named in honor of Lucien Maxwell, who provided the land for the original townsite from his Maxwell Land Grant.