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.
Catawba is a town in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 698 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area. As with the county, the name recalls the Catawba tribe of Native Americans, who once inhabited the area.