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.
Marshfield is a city in Marathon and Wood Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the largest city in Wood County. The small portion of the city that extends into Marathon County is part of the Wausau Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 18,800 at the 2000 census. Marshfield is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 10, Highway 13 and Highway 97. The city forms one of the core areas (the other is Wisconsin Rapids) of the United States Census Bureau's Marshfield-Wisconsin Rapids Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Wood County . Marshfield is home to the Marshfield Clinic, Saint Joseph's Hospital and the Central Wisconsin State Fair, as well as the World's Largest Round Barn.