Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Opelika is a city in and the county seat of Lee County in the east central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. According to 2008 Census estimates, the population of Opelika was 26,808. The Auburn-Opelika, Alabama MSA with a population of 130,516 which, along with the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama MSA and the Tuskegee, Alabama Micropolitan Statistical Area, comprises the greater Columbus-Auburn-Opelika, Georgia-Alabama Combined Statistical Area a region home to approximately 500,000 residents