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.
Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States located about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.5 km² (4.8 mi²). 12.2 km² (4.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (2.28%) is water. Mill Valley is located on the western and northern shores of Richardson Bay, fed by Pickleweed Inlet and Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio which traverse through Mill Valley. Beyond the flat coastal area and marshlands, it occupies narrow wooded canyons, mostly of second-growth redwoods, on the eastern slopes of Mount Tamalpais.