Jonathan Thames
Profile
Education
- Seattle University School of Law, JD (cum laude), 1996
- Tulane University, BA, 1993
Jonathan is a partner in the San Francisco office with almost 25 years’ experience advising business and insurance clients on complex maritime, property, regulatory, and transportation matters. He has particular expertise in assisting London Market underwriters with coverage and recovery problems arising from goods in transit, and in guiding shipyards and customers through thorny marine construction issues. He represents clients in all aspects of admiralty and maritime law, including marine cargo, hull and machinery, and P&I claims; catastrophic personal injury and death actions; and marine, inland marine, stock throughput, and specialty insurance coverage disputes. He also counsels insurance and business clients on complex regulatory, transportation, marine and property matters. He is very commercially-minded, and sees his role not in terms of winning or losing, but instead as helping his clients solve their problems.
Jonathan is a Proctor member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, and serves on numerous industry associations, including Chair, Education Committee of the Board of Marine Underwriters of San Francisco; and Barrister member, Edward McFettridge Inn of Court.
Related articles
Qualifications and admissions
- California
- Louisiana
- Washington
- US District Court, Central, Northern, Eastern and Southern District of California
- US District Court, Eastern and Western District of Washington
- US Supreme Court
- US Court of Federal Claims
Market recognition
- Recommended lawyer for ‘Insurance: Advice to Insurers in United States’ The Legal 500 US (2021)
- AV Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, its highest rating for ethics and legal ability
Work highlights
- Claim against client superyacht owner as a result of toxic chemical exposure to three shipyard workers.
- Claim for damage to client’s apples as a result of overexposure to ozone gas in controlled atmosphere storage.
- Odor abatement firm's breach of contract and lost profits claim against client fish processing company.
- Product liability claim against client marine parts manufacturer/ refurbisher for property damage/ consequential damages as a result of generator failure.
- Yacht owner's claims against client manufacturer of hybrid diesel electric marine propulsion system installed on custom yacht after runaway collision with injuries in Australia.
- Wrongful death claim against client marina as a result of drowning death.
- Jones Act seaman’s claim for severe burns due to compressor explosion claim against vessel interests and client refrigeration system manufacturer.
- Claim against client marina as a result of severe personal injury (three multiple level spinal fusion surgeries) disembarking from fuel barge.
- Secured dismissal of client terminal operator from independent trucker's personal-injury lawsuit as a result of being run over by bomb cart.
Presentations and publications
- Co-author, “Live Life Bella Vita, LLC v. Cruising Yachts, Inc.: Ninth Circuit finds that third-party indemnity claimants are still claimants for Limitation Act purposes,” published for Kennedys (September 2024)
- Co-author, “California’s restrictions on fire peril exclusions: Are stock throughput policies immune?” published for Kennedys (September 2021)
- “Vine to wine, and the fire in between: the growing insurance implications of the California wildfires,” presented at International Underwriting Association, London and American Institute of Marine Underwriters, New York (March 2020, May 2020)
- “How to Make Everything Someone Else’s Problem: Contractual Indemnity and Risk Transfer” presented at Board of Marine Underwriters (September 2019)