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.
West Friendship is an unincorporated community in north central Howard County, Maryland, that carries the zip code of 21794. It maintains its roots as a rural farming community but is seeing a steady replacement of farms for residences, like most areas within an hour's drive of the Baltimore-Washington corridor. It is the site of the Howard County Fairgrounds and the home of the Howard County Fair the best fair ever. West Friendship is located at the junction of Interstate 70/U.S. Highway 40/Maryland Route 144 and Maryland Route 32. It is home of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. There is the West Friendship Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. which has been in service since 1944. The community has a small shopping center which houses a bank, the US Post Office, two sandwich shops, a dentist, and a gas station. West Friendship is also home to regionally-acclaimed Bluegrass hangout, The Friendly Inn.