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.
Fredonia is a town in Coconino County, Arizona, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town is 1,051. It was settled in 1885 by Mormon pioneers from Kanab, Utah. The word "Fredonia" was coined by Samuel Latham Mitchill, combining "freedom" with a Latin ending. Mitchill proposed the name as a replacement for the United States. It failed in that regard but was adopted as the name of many towns and cities. According to George R. Stewart, the meaning of the Arizona town of Fredonia is sometimes said, falsely, to be the joining of English "free" and Spanish "doña", thus meaning "free woman", supposedly referring to polygamous Mormons (Stewart, pg. 173).