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.
Burlington is a city in Alamance county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the principal city of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Alamance County, in which most of the city is located. The population was 44,917 at the 2000 census. According to Census estimates, the city population in 2008 was 50,857, and the Metropolitan Statistical Area population was nearly 150,000 in 2008. The city hosts the Burlington Royals baseball club of the Appalachian League. Burlington is part of the Piedmont Triad region of the state. Burlington is home to the Burlington Athletic Stadium where scenes from the movie Bull Durham were filmed. LabCorp, one of the largest clinical laboratory companies in the world, has its headquarters and several testing facilities in Burlington. LabCorp is Alamance County's largest employer, employing over 3,000 people in the county. Honda Aero, a subsidiary of Honda, recently announced that it will move its corporate headquarters to Burlington and build a $27 million plant at the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport where it will build its HF120 jet engines for use in very light jets. Biscuitville, a regional fast food chain, is based in Burlington. Burlington is also the operations headquarters for Gold Toe Brands, a manufacturer of socks. The Times-News (Burlington, North Carolina) is Burlington's only daily newspaper, and the area's dominant media outlet. General Machine and Welding was purchased by Reynolda Manufacturing in March 2008. The company is now known as GMW, a division of Reynolda Manufacturing. GMW manufactures products for a variety of local companies in addition to clients all over the United States.