Deborah Cazan

Litigation

• Represented an international general contractor in a dispute against a city and its design team arising out of schedule delays, defective design, and other claims made by the general contractor during the construction of a world-class performing arts center.
• Represented one of the nation’s largest office REITS in a claim against one of the largest construction management companies in the U.S. arising from water intrusion and other defective work on 824,000 sq. ft. of newly constructed office space leased by a nuclear power company for its world headquarters.
• Representing an independent power producer in a dispute (pending in the Southern District of New York) with an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor over cost issues pertaining to the installation of wet scrubbers in three coal-fired power plants. The contract price was more than $1 billion, and our client argued that the EPC contractor overbilled for the work and ignored the terms of the parties’ contract regarding reimbursable costs. After several pre-trial rulings in our client’s favor, including the granting of partial summary judgment, the EPC contractor agreed to settle the matter days before a jury was selected. As a result, our client avoided more than $60 million in costs assessed by the contractor.
• Counsel to a large global developer in the prosecution of a multimillion-dollar construction defect claim against a general contractor in which 10 mixed-use retail and residential buildings in Atlanta were damaged by water intrusion. Repairs to the damaged property exceeded $16 million, and the client recovered more than $12 million in the settlement.
• Assisted multiple owner clients in mid-project disputes on troubled projects. This work included analysis of disputes (or potential disputes) to offer innovative solutions aimed at avoiding litigation; ensuring the owner’s adherence to the terms of construction/design contracts so as to best position the client in case of future litigation; managing termination of defaulting contractors; and drafting project “reset” agreements.
• Represented a national general contractor against a student-housing developer in a month-long arbitration. The client asserted claims for delay, acceleration, unpaid change orders, and contract balance, and defended against the developer’s claims for defective work. The arbitration panel awarded the client $8 million, and the developer received nothing for its claims.
• Represented a co-owner of the first nuclear power plant licensed and constructed in the U.S. in more than 30 years. The plant is a $14 billion project, and litigation arose out of three years of delay and $1.5 billion in alleged cost overruns.
• Represented the fifth-largest public hospital in the country in obtaining a judgment against a general contractor for claims arising out of schedule delays and defective work.
• Represented a general contractor in obtaining a dismissal of claims filed by a hospital owner that alleged that the general contractor performed defective work and failed to comply with warranty obligations.

Deborah Cazan is an experienced construction attorney and dedicated business counselor. One hundred percent of her practice over the past 18 years has focused on representing clients in litigation, arbitration, and mediation of construction, development, and real-estate-related disputes, including claims for delay, acceleration, interference, defective construction, defective design, scope changes, and other issues. She has prosecuted and defended high-profile and high-dollar claims all over the country for quality clients in a wide variety of industries, including energy, hospitality, health care, mixed-use, multifamily, industrial, manufacturing, retail, and education. 

On the transactional side, Deborah has extensive experience drafting and negotiating general contractor and construction management agreements, EPC, design-build, program management, project management, and architectural and engineering agreements. She has also helped numerous clients with mid-project change orders and amendments necessary to resolve disputes and prevent future litigation. 

Deborah is ranked in Chambers USA for Georgia – Construction and has been included since 2016. As published in Chambers, one client said, “She is knowledgeable, thorough and really good at helping me figure out what the critical parts are.” Deborah was also named to The Best Lawyers in America^© 2018–2020 in the area of Litigation – Construction. In 2018, Deborah was named a Fellow in the Construction Lawyers Society of America.

Bar Admissions

• Georgia

Education

• Vanderbilt University (J.D., 2001)
• University of Illinois (B.A., 1998)

Memberships