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.
Piedmont is a city in Meade County, South Dakota, United States. Piedmont lies in the Racetrack or Red Valley which circles most of the Black Hills. Piedmont takes its name from the French words pied (foot) and mont (mountain) and the fact that the town lies at a point where the Black Hills rise particularly abruptly from the Red Valley. Although newly incorporated (since July 2008), Piedmont has been inhabited since the coming of the railroad in the 1800s. Piedmont is mostly a bedroom community to nearby Rapid City, but also has construction and forest products businesses nearby. The Piedmont area has experienced three large forest fires since 2003,the Piedmont, Ricco, and Eastridge Fires. In August, 2007 Piedmont experienced a flood rated as a 100-year event in which 6" of rain fell in less than an hour, with runoff exacerbated by the steep terrain burned in the Ricco Fire. The flooding was accompanied by up to baseball-sized hail. Piedmont has been assigned the ZIP Code of 57769.