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.
Crabtree is an unincorporated community in Linn County, Oregon, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office with a ZIP code of 97335. Crabtree lies off of Oregon Route 226 10 miles east of Albany. The town received its name when the Southern Pacific Railroad came there. Crabtree Creek and Crabtree Lake in Linn County were named for pioneer John J. Crabtree, a native of Virginia, who arrived in the Oregon Country in 1845. He wintered in the Tualatin Plains, then bought the William Packwood Donation Land Claim east of the forks of the Santiam River in the spring in 1846. The station and community were named for John Crabtree's cousin Fletcher Crabtree.