A Michigan Court of Appeals panel has ruled that two women who claimed they were sexually assaulted and harassed by prominent personal injury attorney Mike Morse while working for him can bypass private arbitration proceedings and take their claims to court.

The 2-1 decision by an all-woman panel of appellate judges could have far-reaching implications in workplace sexual harassment claims because the majority ruled the arbitration agreements the two women signed when they went to work for Morse do not apply based on the allegations.

Court of Appeals judges Kathleen Jansen and Jane M. Beckering ruled the Mandatory Dispute Resolution Procedure Agreement both women signed limiting legal claims against Morse's firm, Michael J. Morse P.C., to arbitration proceedings does not apply to Morse personally.

State case law dating back 20 years has held that conduct related to an employee's employment can be arbitrated in private proceedings instead of subjecting employers to litigation in open court.

"In short, this court is asked to decide whether the sexual assault and battery of an employee at the hands of a superior is conduct related to employment," Jansen and Beckering wrote. "We conclude that it is not."

Morse's former receptionist, Samantha Lichon, alleged Morse repeatedly sexually assaulted and sexually harassed at his Southfield office, including groping her breasts and groin and "audibly stating sexual comments," according to Lichon's lawsuit filed in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Jordan Smits, a former paralegal for Morse, claimed in a separate lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court that Morse "approached her from behind and grabbed her breasts in front of two other senior attorneys" during a company Christmas party in 2015 at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, according to court documents.

The next month, Smits alleges she reported the incident to the human resources department at Morse's law firm and an HR representative said "her number one priority [was] to protect Morse's reputation," according to the lawsuit.

Smits resigned the from Morse's firm in February 2016 and said she declined an offer or two weeks pay from an attorney for Morse if she signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Morse, one of the state's top personal injury and auto no-fault attorneys, has denied the allegations.

Deborah Gordon, a prominent Bloomfield Hills attorney representing Morse, said the ruling was "a "little bit surprising" and hinted at the increased cultural awareness of workplace treatment of female subordinates.

"That's the way I read it," Gordon told Crain's. "... This is about a hell of a lot more than Mike Morse."

The appellate judges' strongly worded ruling said allowing the lawsuit to go to arbitration based on "the facts of this case would effectively perpetuate a culture that silences victims of sexual assault and allows abusers to quietly settle these claims behind an arbitrator's closed door."

Gordon said the decision would likely be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.

"I don't see how you can carve out a specific kind of act or location and say all other claims go to arbitration but not this kind of claim," Gordon said Friday.

While not ruling on the disputed facts of the lawsuits, the Court of Appeals judges said the alleged sexual assaults are not related to their employment for Morse's firm as a receptionist and paralegal.

"Despite the fact that the sexual assaults may not have happened but for plaintiffs' employment with the Morse firm, we conclude that claims of sexual assault cannot be related to employment," the judges wrote. "The fact that the sexual assaults would not have occurred but for Lichon's and Smits' employment with the Morse firm does not provide a sufficient nexus between the terms of the (arbitration agreement) and the sexual assaults perpetrated by Morse."

The nine-page decision overturning trial court judges in Oakland and Wayne counties who initially sent the lawsuits to arbitration was published Thursday.

In her dissent, Court of Appeals Judge Colleen A. O'Brien said the sexual harrassment claims "arguably fall within the scope of the arbitration agreement."

"Although I do not believe that an employee should be required to arbitrate allegations of sexual assault, I am constrained by the law and the terms of the employment contract to dissent in this case," O'Brien wrote. "I believe that our Legislature is the appropriate forum for addressing this policy matter."

The lawsuits were brought against Morse by Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who has feuded with Morse for years in a war fought on the airwaves with their barrage of competing television advertisements.

Fieger said Friday the ruling could have a broad impact on claims of workplace sexual harassment and assault that have previously been relegated to arbitration proceedings.

"Under circumstances such as this, employers aren't going to be able to hide behind arbitration agreements to prevent employees from having sex assault cases heard in court," Fieger told Crain's.

Fieger said there was "no real arbitration" under the document Morse's law firm required employees to signed.

"In this case, in order to bring the arbitration, you had to come to Morse — the guy who attacked you — and get him to approve your arbitration," Fieger said. "This arbitration agreement said the victims have to seek redress from Morse. Can you imagine? Is that ridiculous?"

Morse, whose face has shown up on metro Detroit billboards and television sets for years, has recently gotten more aggressive in advertising with billboards that say "insurance companies hate us" and a comical Super Bowl ad that featured him running behind an ambulance in an attempt to catch another vehicle whose driver dropped his wallet.

Smits and Lichon were two of three women represented by Fieger in lawsuits against Morse.

The third woman, Renee Swain, had her lawsuit claiming Morse groped her at Lelli's on the Green restaurant in Farmington Hills tossed out after an Oakland County judge concluded the former stripper from Novi lied under oath in a January 2018 deposition.

"We have always felt none of the claims had any legal merit — and that's been borne out," Gordon said.