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.
The city of Heppner is the county seat of Morrow County, Oregon, United States. It was originally called Standsbury Flat for George W. Standsbury, one of the first white settlers in the area. It was later renamed to honor Henry Heppner, a Jewish pioneer who opened the first general store there in 1873. The population was 1,395 at the 2000 census. Heppner is part of the Pendleton–Hermiston Micropolitan Statistical Area.