Introduction - What is consumer law?

Welcome to my consumer law blog. I want to start by describing what I think consumer law is. When someone has a dispute with a business about goods or services meant for personal, family or household use, that is a consumer law problem. Examples might be abusive debt collection or a used-car rip-off.

Why is it called "Consumer" law? I'll be honest -- I've never liked that term. It brings to mind the kind of over-consumption we tend to engage in in the United States, at least compared to many other places in the world. I think the reason the term came to be used is that consumer law looks at everyday transactions from the point of view of the person who buys (or consumes) something. Well, the term stuck, so I guess I'll use it too, since it is widely used among lawyers.

I want this blog to have some appeal to both lawyers and non-lawyers. So, I'm not going to use a lot of fancy legal terms and Latin phrases. But, I will occasionally use a little of each, to educate anyone who is interested.

Some of the things I'll post here:

• News items
• Examples of consumer law cases - either my cases or significant cases affecting Ohioans
• Introductions to different consumer law topics

I'll be tweaking the blog as I go. Feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email.

Sincerely,

Greg Reichenbach
Bluffton, Ohio
Greg@ReichenbachLaw.com