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.
Villanueva is a small unincorporated community along the Pecos River in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. It is located along New Mexico State Highway 3. Just southeast is Villanueva State Park, in a colorful canyon cut by the Pecos River. Villanueva, an old Spanish colonial village, was originally called La Cuesta (Spanish, hill or slope) because the village sits on top of a steeply sloping hill or cuesta in the Pecos Valley. It was renamed in 1890, for a prominent local family. Villanueva has the ZIP code 87583. The 87583 ZIP Code Tabulation Area had a population of 267 at the 2000 census.