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.
Palmdale is a city located in the north-central reaches of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The first community within the Antelope Valley to incorporate as a city (on August 24, 1962), Palmdale is separated from Los Angeles by the San Gabriel Mountain range. As of the 2000 US census, the city population was 116,670, and as of January 1, 2009, the California state department of finance estimates Palmdale proper has a total population of 151,346. According to the Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance report of 2009 the Palmdale / Lancaster, CA Urbanized Area (a US Census Bureau defined term) has a population of 476,845.