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.
Ghent is an unincorporated community in Raleigh County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. On January 30, 2007, the Flat Top Little General Store on U.S. Route 19 exploded, killing four people and injuring several others, near the Winterplace Ski Resort.