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.
Tunkhannock is a borough in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Wilkes-Barre. In the past, lumbering was carried on extensively. The chief industry was tanning and there were spool and tub factories, furnaces and machine shops, stave and planing mills, and witch hazel distilleries. Today, many residents are employed by the Procter & Gamble plant nearby. In 1900, 1,305 people lived here, and in 1910, 1,598 people lived here. As of the 2000 census, the borough population was 1,911. It is the county seat of Wyoming County. The Tunkhannock Historic District, bounded by Tioga, Pine, and Harrison Sts and Wyoming Ave, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in August, 2005. English translations of the Native American Tunkhannock vary, including "meeting of the waters," "small stream," "wilderness stream," and "full of timber. " Tunkhannock is home to the Wyoming County Historical Society and Genealogical Library. The library offers a major source of research material to the public. The collection includes numerous books on New England ancestry, newspapers dating back to 1797 and census records for Wyoming and surrounding counties from 1790 to 1930. Also on file are records for over 90 area cemeteries as well as various other information about local history.