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.
North Providence is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 32,411 at the 2000 census. The town has the distinction of being the smallest by area (5.8 square miles) in the smallest state (1,214 square miles). Though at only 1.29 square miles (3.3 km), the city of Central Falls is Rhode Island's smallest municipality. Warren holds the title for smallest town (8.6 square miles) in the smallest county (45 square miles) of the smallest state. Despite its small footprint, North Providence has the eighth-highest population of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns, and the second-highest of the state's towns after Coventry, Rhode Island's largest municipality by land area.