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.
Burbank is a census-designated place (CDP) in Walla Walla County, Washington, United States, where the Snake River meets the Columbia. The population was 3,303 at the 2000 census. The city is located just south of Pasco, and east of Kennewick, across the Snake and Columbia Rivers, respectively. Kennewick and Pasco are two of the Tri-Cities, and although Burbank is much smaller than either of the two cities, generally Burbank can be considered to be part of the Tri-Cities metropolitan area. Chuck Palahniuk and Jeremy Bonderman grew up in Burbank.