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.
Hugo is a commuter town 14 miles (23 km) north of downtown Saint Paul in Washington County in the U.S. state of Minnesota . The city lies north of White Bear Lake on the border of the metropolitan boundary. Hugo and nearby suburbs comprise the northeast portion of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the sixteenth largest metropolitan area in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau recorded the population of the City of Hugo at 6,363 people in 2000. The Metropolitan Council estimate for 2006 was 10,361, and the Census Bureau estimated for 2008 was 13,139. Originally settled by French and French Canadians, the township was originally named Oneka, later Centerville Station, and finally Hugo around 1906, which officially incorporated as a city in 1972. Hugo early on established itself as a refueling station for the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad. Later, the town associated more closely with the services and businesses of the larger City of Centerville to the east, but after the turn of the century Hugo had absorbed significant suburban growth and development, becoming a boom town. The city's largest lake, Oneka Lake, is named for the Dakota word "onakan," which means "to strike or knock off," rice into a canoe. Just south is Rice Lake where Mdewakanton Dakota from Mendota gathered wild rice. The origin of the name Hugo is not exactly known but is consistent with the town's French history. The Washington County Historical Society suggests it was for French author Victor Hugo, or more likely named after Trevanion William Hugo, who was chief engineer of the Consolidated Elevator Company in Duluth and former Duluth mayor, who likely had ties to the railroad.