In the case of Application for Determining the Validity of an Arbitration Agreement between Wuhan Zhongheng Property Management Co., Ltd. and Cui , the parties agreed that “if negotiation or mediation fails, the parties may apply for arbitration to the Wuhan Arbitration Commission, or file a lawsuit to the people’s court at the place where the contract is performed.”

The court held that in accordance with Article 7 of the Judicial Interpretation of the Arbitration Law, which provides that “the arbitration agreement shall be null and void if the parties agree that they may apply for arbitration to an arbitration institution or file a lawsuit to the people’s court in case of any dispute”, the clause in dispute is a typical “either arbitration or litigation” clause and shall be deemed null and void.