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.
Boulder is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County, Colorado. Boulder is the 11th most populous city in the state of Colorado. The United States Census Bureau estimates that in 2008 the population of the city of Boulder was 94,268, while the population of the Boulder Metropolitan Statistical Area was 293,161. Boulder is the home of the main campus of the University of Colorado, the state's largest university, and Naropa University, one of two accredited Buddhist-inspired universities in the United States. Located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 5,430 feet (1,655 m), Boulder is 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Denver.