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.
Damascus is a town in Faulkner and Van Buren counties in the central part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Its portion within Faulkner County is part of the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Damascus was 306 at the 2000 census. On May 2, 2008, an EF3 tornado passing just north of the town caused extensive damage to the area, killing 0.98% of the population.