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A mass tort is a civil action in which a large number of plaintiffs assert claims against one or a few corporate defendants for harm caused by a shared product, drug, device, or environmental exposure. Unlike class actions, each plaintiff retains an individual case with individual damages, but discovery, expert testimony, and pretrial rulings are typically consolidated through Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) in federal court or through a Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding (JCCP) in state court. Mass torts most commonly arise around pharmaceuticals, medical devices, environmental contaminants, and consumer products. Resolution usually occurs through bellwether trials that establish settlement valuations across the inventory, followed by a global settlement or matrix-based payout fund. Plaintiff law firms compete on intake velocity, science investment, and steering committee positioning during the early and middle stages of a mass tort.