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.
Owingsville is a city in Bath County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,488 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Bath County, and located roughly in the center of the county, at the junction of U.S. 60 and Kentucky Route 36. Owingsville is part of the Mount Sterling Micropolitan Statistical Area. Land for the town was donated by Richard Menefee, a politician and father of Representative Richard Hickman Menefee, and Thomas Dye Owings, owner of a local iron foundry. A local story is that both men wanted to name the town, and the honor was given to Owings after he won a contest to build a finer home. The town was incorporated in 1829. Owingsville is the birth place of Civil War general John Bell Hood, Indiana governors Henry S. Lane and Claude Matthews and Tennessee governor Alvin Hawkins.