Opinion ID: 715803
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Kramer's personal claims.

Text: 34 Kramer's non-ERISA claims, over which the court has supplementary jurisdiction, are subject to the arbitration clause and AMEX Rule 605. Those claims that arose out of transactions that occurred more than six years before the arbitration are ineligible. Kramer is collaterally estopped by the New York judgment to contend that the claims are arbitrable because of fraudulent concealment. 5 The New York court held specifically that [t]hese [AMEX] rules are substantive eligibility requirements, not statutes of limitations, and may not be tolled. The arbitration therefore may not proceed insofar as it concerns partnership interests purchased six years or more prior to the commencement of the original arbitration. Shearson Lehman Bros., Inc. and Larry F. Robb v. Quentin T. Kramer, No. 101339/93, 5 (N.Y.Sup.Ct. Nov. 16, 1993). We are bound to give full faith and credit to this final decision of a state court. Raju v. Rhodes, 7 F.3d 1210, 1214 (5th Cir.1993) ([O]nce a court of competent jurisdiction decides an issue of fact or law necessary to its judgment, the same parties to that judgment cannot relitigate that issue in a different action.). 35 Kramer contends, however, that he is entitled to litigate in court claims ineligible for arbitration. This too appears to be an issue of first impression in the courts of appeals, though several district courts have ruled on it. Arbitration is a creature of contract and the scope of the parties' obligation to arbitrate must be determined by reference to the terms of the agreement. Commercial Metals Co. v. Balfour, Guthrie, and Co., 577 F.2d 264, 266 (5th Cir.1978). The customer agreement provides that [u]nless unenforceable due to federal or state law, any controversy arising out of or relating to [transactions between the parties] ... shall be settled by arbitration. The intention underlying the agreement quite plainly is to require the submission of all claims to arbitration, subject only to the express exemption for claims not arbitrable under federal or state law. It would be bizarre to interpret the agreement to exempt stale claims from arbitration. We hold the customer agreement to bar litigation of the claims that are ineligible for arbitration.