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.
Peekskill is a city in Westchester County, New York. It is situated on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from Jones Point. This community was known to be an early American industrial center, primarily for its iron plow and stove products. The Binney & Smith Company, now makers of Crayola products, started as the Peekskill Chemical Company at Annsville in 1864. Peekskill's manufacturing base operated well into the late 1900s, with the Fleischmann Company making yeast by-products under the Standard Brands corporate name. The population is 22,441 according to the year 2000 census. The well-publicized Peekskill Riots of 1949, involving the Civil Rights Congress benefit concert of Paul Robeson, specifically occurred in the neighboring suburb Van Cortlandtville.