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.
Darien is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. A relatively small community on Connecticut's "Gold Coast," it is one of the most affluent towns in the United States. The population was 19,607 at the 2000 census. Situated between the small cities of Norwalk and Stamford, the town is a bedroom community with relatively few office buildings. Most workers commute to the adjacent cities, and many also work in New York City. Two Metro North railroad stations — Noroton Heights and Darien — link the town to Grand Central Terminal and the rest of the New Haven Line. Although Darien has an increasingly vibrant downtown, residents often shop at the big-box stores and chain stores in neighboring Norwalk and Stamford. For recreation, the town includes four small parks, two beaches on Long Island Sound, four country clubs, a hunt club, and two yacht clubs. With a median home price of approximately $1 million, Darien is one of the most expensive places to live in North America, and was rated one of the best places to live in America by CNN in 2005. The public library in Darien, the Darien Library, has consistently ranked in the top ten of its category in the HAPLR (Hennen's American Public Library Ratings) Index of libraries.