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.
Hermitage, Tennessee is a section of Metropolitan Nashville, Tennessee located in eastern Davidson County, adjacent to, and named in honor of, The Hermitage, home of Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States. Though the area is incorporated as part of the Nashville/Davidson County metropolitan government, it maintains its own identity as a residential and commercial suburban area. Hermitage is located immediately to the east of Donelson, a Nashville borough which is named in honor of Jackson's father-in-law John Donelson, and just to the west of Mount Juliet in adjacent Wilson County. A rural area only thirty years ago, Hermitage is now a thriving suburb with a highly-developed network of retail stores and typical suburban tract houses ranging from the "starter home" to the "executive residence". The technology headquarters of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, one of the Big Four auditors, is located in Hermitage, sprawling over 200,000 square feet (19,000 m) and employing over 1,000 people. Hermitage is a small example of urban sprawl. An array of apartments exists as well. Major thoroughfares include U.S. Highway 70, Interstate 40, and State Route 45. The city also has a station on the new Music City Star commuter rail service and is also home to the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, the organization which administers junior and senior high school sporting events. Hermitage is divided from Donelson by the Stones River and its bottom lands, Clover Bottom. It has benefited greatly from the impoundment of the Stones by J. Percy Priest Dam, a nearby United States Army Corps of Engineers project, which provides a great deal of recreation opportunities, particularly in the summer months, and which has contributed greatly to the desirability and value of the area's real estate. Hermitage and Donelson are often thought of as something of a unit, and even have a joint Chamber of Commerce and Christmas parade. Hermitage is generally thought to be at least roughly coextensive with its United States Postal Service ZIP Code of 37076.