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.
Reedville is an unincorporated town in Northumberland County in the Northern Neck region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It is located at the eastern terminus of U.S. Route 360 (the Northumberland Highway) east of Heathsville at the head of Cockrell's Creek on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Reedville is home to the fishing industry for Atlantic menhaden, a small oily fish found in great abundance in Mid-Atlantic coastal waters. By some accounts, it is second only to Dutch Harbor, Alaska for the annual quantity of fish brought to port in the United States. A popular place to begin fishing charters and trips to Tangier Island in the Bay, Reedville is a destination itself, steeped in the history of the menhaden fishing industry, with its Millionaire's Row of Victorian-era mansions and several watercraft of the Fishermen's Museum each listed on the National Register of Historic Places.