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Community Spotlight: Dean Gresham, Managing Director, Certum Group

Community Spotlight: Dean Gresham, Managing Director, Certum Group

Dean Gresham is a Managing Director who oversees the evaluation, underwriting, and risk management of all the company’s risk transfer solutions, including litigation finance and contingent risk insurance. With 25 years of experience in complex litigation and legal risk analysis, Dean ensures rigorous underwriting standards and strategic risk mitigation across the company’s risk transfer solutions.

Before joining Certum Group, Dean was a trial lawyer for more than 21 years handling complex commercial, catastrophic injury, qui tam, and class action litigation across the country. While practicing, Dean litigated on both sides of the docket and developed a keen ability to analyze and assess risk from both the plaintiff’s and defendant’s unique perspectives.

In 2020, Dean was awarded the Elite Trial Lawyer of the Year award by the National Law Journal for his trailblazing work on a complicated wrongful adoption case. Dean is consistently chosen by his peers as a Texas Super Lawyer (2009-2024); one of the Best Lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine (2009-2024), one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Texas by the National Association of Trial Lawyers (2011-2024), and in the Nation’s Top One Percent by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel (2019-2024).

Dean is the 2025 Chair of the Dallas Bar Association’s prestigious Business Litigation Section and sits on the DBA’s Judiciary Committee.

Company Name and Description: Certum Group offers a next-generation litigation risk transfer platform that provides bespoke solutions for companies, law firms, and funders facing the uncertainty of litigation. Latin for “certainty,” Certum represents the core benefit the company delivers to its clients across its entire suite of risk transfer solutions.  Certum is the full-service funding and insurance partner for law firms and their business clients.

Company Website: www.certumgroup.com

Year Founded: 2014 

Headquarters:  Plano, Texas

Area of Focus: Member: Head of Underwriting and Chair of the Investment Committee.

Member Quote: “Litigation funding doesn’t just fuel cases—it fuels justice. Power should never trump merit.”

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Zurich’s Quarterly U.S. Lobbying Spend Climbs to $660,000 With Funding Disclosure Bill Pending

Zurich American Insurance Company increased its federal lobbying expenditure in the third quarter of 2026, with the Litigation Transparency Act of 2025 among the measures listed in its disclosures.

As reported by Legis1, Zurich reported $550,000 in in-house lobbying expenses for the quarter, supplemented by $60,000 paid to Invariant LLC and $50,000 to Tiber Creek Group Inc. The combined total of $660,000 is $70,000 above the insurer's second-quarter figure of $590,000.

H.R.1109 would require parties in a civil action to disclose any person, other than counsel, holding a contingent right to receive payment based on the outcome of the case, and to produce the underlying funding agreement. The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee in February 2025 and its most recent recorded action remains the committee consideration and markup sessions held in November 2025. Its cosponsor count has grown from two at introduction to 28 as of June 2026.

The measure has drawn broad support from the property and casualty sector. A U.S. Chamber of Commerce coalition letter backing the bill was signed by Zurich North America alongside Allstate, Chubb, Liberty Mutual, State Farm and Travelers, as well as the American Property Casualty Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.

Opposition has come from an unexpected direction. Tea Party Patriots Action has urged the House Judiciary Committee to reject the bill, and a donor-privacy coalition including PDE Action has argued it would compel disclosure of private financial arrangements outside the ordinary discovery process without any judicial finding of relevance.

ATE Insurers Expected to Await Manchester City Appeal Before Backing Compensation Claims

Rival clubs, players and agents weighing compensation claims against Manchester City may struggle to secure after-the-event insurance until the club's appeal is resolved, according to a specialist litigation insurance underwriter.

As reported by Insurance Business, Rocco Pirozzolo, managing director and underwriting director at Harbour Underwriting, said the live appeal creates uncertainty that underwriters are unlikely to price. "With a live appeal, this creates uncertainty, and so I expect underwriters would want to wait for the outcome of the appeal," he said.

The Premier League announced on 29 September that an independent commission had found the club in breach of more than 100 of its rules, upholding 114 of the 115 charges brought in 2023 following an investigation that began in 2018. Manchester City lodged an appeal on 1 October and denies wrongdoing.

Pirozzolo noted that Burnley's earlier award against Everton gives underwriters a roadmap for this type of claim, but that tying a rule breach to lost results and lost revenue remains the difficult part. Causation and quantum are the key tests for ATE underwriters assessing whether a claim is insurable.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham are reported to have lodged notices in 2024 reserving the right to claim compensation, while players and agents are said to be exploring loss-of-earnings claims tied to bonus payments.

A three-member appeal board will hear the case and may dismiss or allow the appeal, remit it to the commission, or alter any sanction. Under Premier League rules the hearing should be held within 12 weeks of being lodged, with a decision due within 30 days of its conclusion.

Omni Bridgeway Reports 3.9x MOIC on A$135.8m of First-Quarter Completions

Omni Bridgeway Limited (ASX: OBL) has reported that it is tracking at or above all of its FY27 operational targets, with first-quarter completions returning well above the funder's recent historical average.

As reported by GlobeNewswire, the alternative asset manager's Investment Portfolio Report as at 30 September 2026 records 20 full and partial completions generating A$135.8m in investment proceeds at a 3.9x multiple on invested capital. That compares with a two-year trailing average of 2.5x, and the completions converted at 102% of carrying fair value.

Management fees rose 24% year-on-year to A$10.7m, and the group received A$9.4m in cash carried interest, with a further A$8.6m accrued on Series II funds but not yet distributed. Omni Bridgeway also completed the final close of its Funds 4 and 5 Series II at the full US$1 billion target during the quarter, which it expects to push management fee growth towards the higher end of its indicated FY27 range.

New commitments totalled A$87.1m across nine new investments, up 23% on the prior corresponding quarter, adding A$81.2m in new fair value. The pipeline comprised 46 agreed exclusive term sheets representing an estimated A$416.6m in potential new commitments, up from A$317.8m a year earlier.

Cash operating expenses of A$15.7m tracked below the FY27 budget range of A$72.5m to A$75.0m, with a cost coverage ratio of 68% for the quarter. Chief Executive Officer Raymond van Hulst pointed to the 46 exclusive term sheets and a significant number of late-stage investments in the portfolio.