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.
Murfreesboro is a city in and the county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 101,753 according to the United States Census Bureau's 2009 report, up from 81,393 residents certified during the city's 2005 special census. The center of population of Tennessee is located in Murfreesboro. The city is part of the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes thirteen counties and a population of 1,632,671 (2009). Although Murfreesboro is sometimes considered a suburb or exurb of Nashville, Tennessee, at 35 miles (56 km) it is far enough away and has a large enough population to maintain a separate identity from its larger neighbor. It is Tennessee's fastest growing major city and one of the fastest growing cities in the country, with a population growth from 46,000 to 69,000 between 1990 and 2000, a change of 66%. The city is also home to Middle Tennessee State University, the largest undergraduate university in the state of Tennessee, with a current undergraduate population of 20,899 and 23,264 total students. In 2006, Murfreesboro was ranked by Money as the 84th best place to live in the United States, out of 745 cities with a population over 50,000.