Springfield is the largest city on the Connecticut River and the county seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. In the 2000 census, the city population was 154,082 with an estimated 2008 population of 150,640. It is the third largest city in Massachusetts and fourth largest in New England. Springfield has two nicknames — The City of Homes and The City of Firsts. Historically the first Springfield in the United States, it is the largest city in Western Massachusetts and the Pioneer Valley. Springfield is notable as the birthplace of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, as well as the city where James Naismith invented basketball. It is home to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Springfield Falcons AHL ice hockey team. It also holds the western world's largest collection of Chinese cloisonné at the G.W. Vincent Smith Art Museum. The Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of three counties: Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin. At the 2000 census, the Springfield MSA had a population of 680,014 (though a July 1, 2007, estimate placed the population at 682,657). It is also part of a larger metropolitan area known as the Northeast megalopolis.

What is toxic tort law?

Toxic Tort cases involve people who have been injured through exposure to dangerous pharmaceuticals or chemical substances in the environment, on the job, or in consumer products -- including carcinogenic agents, lead, benzene, silica, harmful solvents, hazardous waste, and pesticides to name a few.

Most toxic tort cases have arisen either from exposure to pharmaceutical drugs or occupational exposures. Most pharmaceutical toxic injury cases are mass tort cases, because drugs are consumed by thousands of people, many of whom become ill from a toxic drug. There have also been many occupational toxic tort cases, because industrial and other workers are often chronically exposed to toxic chemicals - more so than consumers and residents. Most of the law in this area arises from asbestos exposure, but thousands of toxic chemicals are used in industry and workers in these areas can experience a variety of toxic injuries. Unlike the general population, which is exposed to trace amounts of thousands of different chemicals in the environment, industrial workers are regularly exposed to much higher levels of chemicals and therefore have a greater risk of developing disease from particular chemical exposures than the general population. The home has recently become the subject of toxic tort litigation, mostly due to mold contamination, but also due to construction materials such as formaldehyde-treated wood and carpet. Toxic tort cases also arise when people are exposed to consumer products such as pesticides and suffer injury. Lastly, people can also be injured from environmental toxins in the air or in drinking water.

Answers to toxic tort law issues in Massachusetts

In certain kinds of cases, lawyers charge what is called a contingency fee. Instead of billing by the hour, the...

Because of the health problems caused by lead poisoning, the federal Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction...

Property owners may be liable for tenant health problems caused by exposure to environmental hazards, such as...

In general, mass tort cases involve a large number of individual claimants with claims associated with a single...