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.
Benwood is a city in Marshall County, West Virginia, along the Ohio River. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,585 at the 2000 census. Benwood was chartered in 1853 and incorporated in 1895. The name of the city is derived from "Ben's Woods" as Benjamin McMechen (1777 - 1855) inherited that portion of land from the estate of his father, William McMechen (1724 - 1797), and built his homestead upon it.