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1. During July 2004 the Claimant, for his retirement account with GunnAllen had purchased in a private placement, as an "Accredited Investor", one Unit of Florida Capital Apartments 2004, Ltd. That purchase and Claimant's subsequent retention of that investment form, in alt their aspects, the gravamen of Claimant's Statement of Claim in this matter. It now appears that in March 2006 Claimant and GunnAllen had entered into a written Settlement Agreement and Release dated March 7, 2006 (the "Agreement" included as part of Exhibit C to Respondent's motion papers) with reference to a dispute that had arisen between them concerning certain alleged improprieties with respect to Claimant's account at GunnAllen, expressing their "desire to compromise and settle all claims, causes of action, injuries, and damages asserted or that may be asserted [emphasis added]" and providing for payment of $5,547.00 to Claimant by GunnAllen, in full settlement. The precise nature of the unspecified improprieties is nowhere described, and has not been identified by either party, apart from their both agreeing that it was completely unrelated to Claimant's July 2004 investment that is the subject of this arbitration proceeding. 

2. The Agreement further states that its "[p]erformance.. .will operate as a genera/ release [emphasis added] by and between GunnAllen and Claimant and their present and former representatives." Nowhere is this "general release" qualified or limited In any way to reference to any specific claim or any kind of claim; as written (and despite its being far from a model of legal draftsmanship in most respects), agreed to and fully performed it is sufficiently broad in its reach to include the claims made by Claimant in his Statement of Claim, which have to do with a transaction entered into almost two years prior to the settlement and are plainly "claims . . . that may be asserted", as indeed they have been, subsequent to execution of the Agreement. The Agreement was signed by both parties, and the required payment was made to Claimant a few days following its execution. 

3. Claimant now asserts that his signature to the Agreement was procured by fraud on the part of GunnAllen's registered representative Jaime Diaz, and that he did not at all understand its purpose or effect as a general release, but was assured that it was simply a document he was required to sign in order to obtain the promised payment, which he did. However, the final paragraph of the Agreement, which Claimant, hardly an uneducated person, indeed a physician, must conclusively be presumed to have read and understood, states in relevant part immediately preceding its signatures that "all parties having consulted legal counsel, or having been advised to consult legal counsel, and having had full opportunity to do so, [emphasis added] . . .hereby acknowledge that the provisions of this Agreement shall be binding upon themselves and respective heirs and next of kin, executors, and administrators." Their respective signatures appear directly below, with Claimant's signature dated March 25, 2006, and that of Jay Marc Israel, Esq., attorney for GunnAllen, dated March 27, 2006. Neither party can now claim not to be bound by the Agreement in any respect. Claimant has admitted that he has at no time sought legal advice concerning the settlement or the Agreement itself, or in connection with his commencement of or participation in any other aspect of the arbitration proceedings in this matter; Claimant asserts that in all respects he was bamboozled by Jaime Diaz, whom he has only now named as a Respondent.

at Pages 2 - 3 of the FINRA Arbitration Decision at
https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/aao_documents/09-04105-Award-FINRA-20100224.pdf