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.
Stuart is a town in Patrick County, Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 961 at the 2000 census. Due to recent boundary expansion, the town of Stuart has an estimated population of nearly two thousand residents. The town of Stuart was named after Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, of nearby Ararat, Virginia.