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.
Mingo Junction is a village in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,631 at the 2000 census. In 1900, its only manufacturing plant was a steel mill owned by Carnegie Steel Company. Past population figures are: 1900, 2,954; 1910, 4,049; 1940, 5,192. Mingo Junction is part of the Weirton–Steubenville, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Mingo Indian tribe once had a settlement at the location of the present day village, which is the source of its name. Originally known as Mingo Bottom, it was the starting point for the ill-fated Crawford expedition against hostile Indians in 1782, during the American Revolutionary War.