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.
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 713,877 (consolidated; balance total is 557,224), with a population of 1,244,696 in the Louisville metropolitan area. An important internal shipping port in the 19th century, Louisville is today most well known for the Kentucky Derby, the widely watched first race of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Louisville is situated on the Ohio River in north-central Kentucky at the Falls of the Ohio. Because it includes counties in Southern Indiana, the Louisville metropolitan area is often referred to as Kentuckiana. The river forms the border between Kentucky and Indiana. A resident of Louisville is referred to as a Louisvillian. Although situated in a Southern state, Louisville is influenced by both Southern and Midwestern culture. It is sometimes referred to as either the northernmost Southern city or the southernmost Northern city in the United States. The settlement that became the City of Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is named after King Louis XVI of France.