WILLIAM BIDWELL V ROBERT HALF INTL INC
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
WILLIAM BIDWELL,
UNPUBLISHED
April 10, 2001
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v
No. 219302
Oakland Circuit Court
LC No. 98-009630-CZ
ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL, INC.,
Defendant-Appellee.
Before: Talbot, P.J., and Sawyer and F.L. Borchard*, JJ.
MEMORANDUM.
Plaintiff appeals as of right from a circuit court order confirming an arbitration award as
modified. We affirm. This appeal is being decided without oral argument pursuant to MCR
7.214(E).
Plaintiff, a former employee of defendant, claimed that defendant failed to pay him
commissions. The parties submitted the claim to arbitration. The arbitrator ruled that plaintiff
was entitled to commissions but denied his claim for treble damages and attorney fees under the
sales representatives’ commission act (SRCA), MCL 600.2961; MSA 27A.2961. The trial court
ruled that the arbitrator had exceeded the scope of her authority by considering the SRCA, struck
that aspect of the award, and confirmed it as modified.
Plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in modifying the award as it did and should
have found that the arbitrator made an error of law when she found the SRCA inapplicable to this
action. Because plaintiff has failed to adequately brief the merits of his claim that the parties’
arbitration agreement gave the arbitrator authority to decide an issue under the SRCA, the issue is
deemed abandoned. FMB-First Michigan Bank v Bailey, 232 Mich App 711, 717-718; 591
NW2d 676 (1998). Even assuming the trial court erred, the error was harmless because
defendant did not employ plaintiff to solicit orders for or sell goods and thus defendant was not a
* Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.
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principal and plaintiff was not a sales representative as those terms are defined by the act. MCL
600.2961(1)(d), (e); MSA 27A.2961(1)(d), (e).
Affirmed.
/s/ Michael J. Talbot
/s/ David H. Sawyer
/s/ Fred L. Borchard
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