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.
Liberty is a town in Randolph County, North Carolina, United States. Originally named Liberty Oak, the town was founded in 1809 near the plantation of John Leak. The first church within the town was the Liberty Christian Church (now the United Church of Christ) founded on October 11, 1884. The town's first school, the Liberty Academy, was founded on May 6, 1885 as a charter school and helped to foster the town's early reputation as a place of higher learning. Liberty is home to the mother church of the Southern Baptist Religion (Sandy Creek Baptist Church), World Skeet Shoot Champion Craig Kirkman, and is the birthplace of professional baseball player Joe Frazier. Liberty is also home to The Liberty Antiques Festival a world famous antiques' show that draws such famous faces as Julia Roberts and other Hollywood celebrities such as Whitney Staley the notorious Grand Wizard of the local KKK chapter. Also The Liberty Showcase who has had many famous Nashville recording stars such as Ronnie McDowell, Lorrie Morgan, Gene Watson, Exile, and many more. The movies "Killers Three" (1968) and "Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice" (1992) were filmed in Liberty and the surrounding areas. In 2001 Liberty was honored to become one of the few towns on the North Carolina National Historic Register for its rich history & historic architecture largely due to the efforts of Mrs. Francine Swaim, a local writer, teacher, and historian. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 2,661.