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.
Vidalia is a city in Toombs and very slightly into Montgomery counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 10,491. It is the largest city in Toombs, but is not the county seat. Vidalia is said to be the named for the daughter of the railroad man who passed through the area on his route. Like so many towns in the region, it grew up around a train depot that serviced farmers in the area who grew such crops as pecans and tobacco. The famous sweet onions were not an important crop until much later. Vidalia is the principal city of the Vidalia Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Montgomery and Toombs counties and had a combined population of 34,337 at the 2000 census.