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.
Pendleton is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Pendleton was named in 1868 by the county commissioners for George H. Pendleton, Democratic candidate for Vice-President in the 1864 presidential campaign. The population was 16,354 at the 2000 census. The 2006 estimate is 17,310 residents. It is the county seat of Umatilla County. Pendleton is the larger of the two principal cities of the Pendleton-Hermiston Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Morrow and Umatilla counties and had a combined population of 81,544 at the 2000 census.