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.
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 6,867 at the 2000 census. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777. It is home to the Washington and Lee University (W&L) and Virginia Military Institute (VMI). It is the county seat of Rockbridge County. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Lexington (along with nearby Buena Vista) with Rockbridge County for statistical purposes. Union General David Hunter led a raid on Virginia Military Institute during the American Civil War. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are buried here. So too was Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury until he was removed to Richmond, Virginia the following spring. It is also the site of the only house Jackson ever owned, now open to the public as a museum. Sam Houston, 19th century statesman, politician and soldier, and, as of 2008, the only person in U.S. history to have been the governor of two different states — Tennessee and Texas — was born near here. At the Sam Houston Wayside is a 38,000 pound piece of Texas pink granite commemorating Houston's birthplace.