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.
Windber is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, eight miles (13 km) south of Johnstown. It was at one time a place of industrial activities which included coal mining, lumbering, and the manufacture of fire brick. In 1897, the community was founded by coal barons Charles and Edward Julius Berwind owners of the Berwind Corporation. 8,013 people lived in Windber in 1910 and 9,057 in 1940; the population was 4,395 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area.