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.
Eidson is an unincorporated community located on Clinch Mountain in Hawkins County, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Kingsport–Bristol (TN)–Bristol (VA) Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area – commonly known as the "Tri-Cities" region. The community is the site of the Clinch School, a K-12 public school operated by Hawkins County. Clinch School is the smallest K-12 school in the state, with a 2006-2007 enrollment of 133 students. The main school building was constructed in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project to provide a high school for the Eidson community. Before the high school was built, Clinch School ended at grade 10, and students wishing to continue their education past that level attended Rogersville High School, Grainger County High School, or Hancock County High School. A new Clinch School is under construction as of autumn 2009. Eidson is also the site of a post office, assigned the zip code 37731. The town was named after a group of families living there with the surname Eidson. Among them was Andrew Jackson Eidson, a patriarch of the branch of Eidsons found throughout East Tennessee. Many Eidson are concentrated around upper Hawkins County.