Brief of Amici Curiae in Support of Appellant, James Townsend v. Midland Funding, LLC

The Consumer Protection Clinic of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, filed a Motion to Participate and an Amicus Brief in the case of Townsend v. Midland Funding, LLC. The case presents the question of whether documents created by third party predecessors in interest—usually a bank—may be admitted into evidence when a debt buyer plaintiff does not demonstrate personal knowledge regarding any of the foundational elements which would be required to admit the documents under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. Amici urge the Court to overturn the lower court, and hold that a debt buyer’s documents may not be admitted into evidence without the debt buyer first laying the proper foundation for the business records exception to the hearsay rule. The Clinic was joined by AARP, the National Consumer Law Center, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, and by the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau and Maryland\u27s Public Justice Center. The Brief deals with the problems of data integrity and the lack of competent, reliable evidence in lawsuits filed purchasers of charged off credit card debt, known as debt buyers. The Consumer Protection Clinic and other amici examine due process and professionalism concerns which arise when our courts (primarily Maryland\u27s District Court) do not strictly apply the special evidentiary and procedural rules which exist for small claims actions

Students and the market for schools in Haiti

Uniquely among Latin American and Caribbean countries, Haiti has a largely non-public education system. Prior to the earthquake of January 2010, just 19 percent of primary school students were enrolled in public schools, with the remainder enrolled in a mix of religious, for-profit, and non-governmental organization-funded schools. This paper examines changes in Haitian schooling patterns in the last century and shows the country experienced tremendous growth in school attainment, driven almost entirely by growth in the private sector. Additionally, it provides evidence that the private market"works"to the extent that primary school fees are higher for schools with characteristics associated with education quality. The paper also analyzes the demand and supply determinants of school attendance and finds that household wealth is a major determinant of attendance. Given these findings, the authors conclude that in the near-term paying school fees for poor students may be an effective approach to expanding schooling access in Haiti.Education For All,Tertiary Education,Primary Education,Disability,Gender and Education

Simple applications of Noether's first theorem in quantum mechanics and electromagnetism

Internal global symmetries exist for the free non-relativistic Schr\"{o}dinger particle, whose associated Noether charges--the space integrals of the wavefunction and the wavefunction multiplied by the spatial coordinate--are exhibited. Analogous symmetries in classical electromagnetism are also demonstrated.Comment: 12 page