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.
Gilberton is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, four miles (7 km) west by south of Mahanoy City. Extensive deposits of coal are in the region, and coal-mining had been practiced by many of the 4,373 people who lived there in 1900. The coal-mining industry was thriving in 1910, and 5,401 people lived in Gilberton. The population was 867 at the 2000 census.