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.
Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River (also known locally as the Black River). The city spans the Ottawa/Allegan county line, with 9.08 square miles (23.52 km) in Ottawa and the remaining 8.13 square miles (21.06 km) in Allegan. As of the 2000 census, the population was 35,048, with the 2008 census estimate placing the population at 34,076 with an Urbanized Area population of 95,394. The city is the largest municipality of the Holland-Grand Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has an estimated population of 260,364 as of July 1, 2008. Holland was founded by Dutch Americans, and is in an area that has a large percentage of citizens of Dutch American heritage who live in communities with such Dutch names as Harlem, Zeeland, Vriesland, Drenthe, Groningen and Graafschap. It is home to Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, institutions of the Reformed Church in America. In 2010, Holland was ranked the 2nd healthiest/happiest town in the United States by the Well-being Index.