Coerced into Signing a Settlement with Contractor Who Committed Fraud

[merle]

My question involves a consumer law issue in the State of: arizona. I was coerced into signing a settlement agreement against a plumber who abandoned a huge the job after being paid. Before he abandoned the job and was on good working terms, I inquired with him about some custom bathtubs and light fixtures, which he could get for a good price, but he said I would need to pay up front, which I did.
Question...the settlement agreement I signed, which my attorney said I had to sign due to her negotiations with contractors lawyer, has a "release and discharge" releasing and discharging from past, present or future claims, demands, causes of actions, rights, damages...
Does that mean I cannot file against him for the fraud he committed?
If the settlement was misrepresented to me, (the agreement I signed was not the settlement which my attorney presented to me the day before,) and I signed only because my attorney said that I could be sued by the other party if I did not...where do I go for justice?
does the act of committing fraud allow me consumer protection in anyway or did my signing take away my rights? If my attorney pressured me into signing and it was not a meeting of the minds, and the settlement doesn't come close to completing my bathroom...is there any recourse?

[Mr. Knowitall]

When you settle a claim and release the other party from "from past, present or future claims, demands, causes of actions, rights, damages", you do exactly that.

Why do you believe that your attorney's statement about the possibility of a countersuit constitutes "coercion"? It does not.

If you didn't believe the settlement you accepted was just, you should have declined it and either tried to settle on more favorable terms or taken the matter to trial.

[merle]

I believe my attorney made an agreement with the contractors attorney because I rejected the terms they counter-offered and didn't want to settle at all, but my attorney said I couldn't back out. The agreement my attorney sent me was acceptable but when I went into her office to sign it was different but she said I could be sued by the other if I didn't sign, and I was exhausted from trying to reject it. My attorney said I couldn't withdraw from their counter-offer and I couldn't think it over because they gave her a payment in trust for me. I didn't want to sign, and cried my way through it because she said I would be sued if I didn't. I really was tricked, the contractor got off with all my savings, and I after paying the legal fees, I can't finish the bathroom. I believe she made an agreement without my consent and worked me over to fulfill it.It was only after the pressure and signing did I realize I could have walked away. Now It seems so unjust that I was manipulated and given nothing, when he was the crook.

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I believe stating I could get sued for not signing, knowing i dont have the funds to go to court, means
I'd better sign! He did not say we could terminate the negotiations or make a new proposal , quite the contrary... He said I could not back out of the deal (which I now know wasn't true since I never agreed) but instead that I could be sued. So...if my attorney states I can't back out and get sued as well ...what would you call it ? A little pressure?