First Fam Fincl Svc v. Jenkins

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS May 16, 2003 For the Fifth Circuit Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk No. 02-60840 Summary Calendar FIRST FAMILY FINANCIAL SERVICES INC, Plaintiff-Appellee, VERSUS FRED SANDERS, Defendant-Appellant. --------------------------------------------------------- Cons/W No. 02-60844 FIRST FAMILY FINANCIAL SERVICES INC, Plaintiff-Appellee, VERSUS HAL LEE JENKINS, Defendant-Appellant. --------------------------------------------------------- Cons/W No. 02-60864 FIRST FAMILY FINANCIAL SERVICES INC, Plaintiff-Appellee, VERSUS JOANN CALHOUN, Defendant-Appellant. Appeals from the United States District Court For the Southern District of Mississippi, Jackson (4:01-CV-133) Before BARKSDALE, DeMOSS, and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* First Family Financial Services Inc. (hereinafter “First Family”) filed these three actions in federal court in June, 2001, to compel Fred Sanders, Joan Calhoun and Hal Lee Jenkins (collectively “the Borrowers”) to arbitrate claims which Borrowers had raised in the lawsuit brought by them against First Family in the Circuit Court of Noxubee County, Mississippi. The Borrowers filed motions to dismiss as well as to motions to stay pending discovery which the district court denied. First Family moved to compel arbitration in all three cases in February, 2002. In September, 2002, the district court entered memorandum opinions and orders directing the Borrowers to submit their state court claims to arbitration and staying their state court action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §2283. The Borrowers timely filed notices of appeal and this Court consolidated the three appeals. We have carefully reviewed the briefs and the record excerpts * Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the Court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4. 2 and relevant portions of the record itself. For the reasons stated by the district court in each of the three memorandum opinions and orders entered under date of September 6, 2002, we affirm the decision of the district court to compel arbitration in these cases. AFFIRMED G:\opin-sc\02-60840.opn.wpd 3