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.
Philadelphia is an unincorporated community in western Marion County, Missouri, United States. It is located about ten miles west of Palmyra on Route 168. It was named for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The community is part of the Hannibal Micropolitan Statistical Area. There is a small school district (Marion Co. RII) headquartered in Philadelphia. There is one school building which contains all grades (K-12). The school team is the Mustangs. The community is connected by the Mark Twain Rural Telephone Company in Hurdland. The community is served by a volunteer fire department and a fully-equipped emergency medical response vehicle which is housed in a building constructed in 2004 and operated by EMTs and first responders who reside in and around the unincorporated area. Primary pre-hospital medical response is provided by the Marion County Ambulance District. Law enforcement is provided by the Marion County Sheriff's Office.