About KeyPoint Claims
KeyPoint Claims is the industrial accident and workplace injury practice of Cross & York LLP, based in Washington DC. We represent people seriously hurt at industrial sites — and the families of those killed — in claims arising from machinery failures, plant and refinery incidents, falls, electrical injuries, crush injuries and toxic exposure.
Most of our work involves claims that sit alongside workers' compensation rather than inside it. Industrial sites are shared by contractors, equipment suppliers, maintenance firms and site operators, and workers' compensation only ever shields your own employer. Identifying who else contributed, and whether the law in that state allows a claim against them, is the substance of what we do.
Gerald Lee Cross Jr
Managing Partner
Gerald Lee “Lee” Cross Jr is the managing partner of Cross & York LLP and leads the firm's industrial accident practice. Licensed in Missouri and Kansas, he has practised since 2007 and has worked with legal teams on civil litigation, personal injury, environmental and mass-tort matters in more than 30 states. View Lee’s credentials and professional background.
Admission and credentials
- Admitted
- Missouri (2007) · Kansas (2008)
- Practice
- Industrial accident and workplace injury law
- Focus
- Third-party liability · product liability · wrongful death
Where we are admitted, and how out-of-state claims work
Gerald Lee Cross Jr is licensed in Missouri and Kansas. Industrial accident law is state law, and it differs substantially between states — deadlines, whether you can sue your employer, whether a general contractor can be held liable, and whether being partly at fault reduces a claim or defeats it entirely.
Where a claim arises in a state in which we are not admitted, we work with locally admitted co-counsel, or refer the matter outright where that serves you better. We will tell you at the outset which of those applies to your case. We do not take on matters we are not in a position to handle properly.
The state pages on this site cover jurisdictions we accept matters in, under the arrangements described above. They explain how claims work in those states. They are not a representation that we are admitted in each of them, and where we are not, the work is done with locally admitted counsel.
How we work
Establish who is actually reachable
Workers' compensation usually rules out a claim against your own employer. The first substantive question in most industrial cases is which other parties — contractors, site operators, manufacturers, suppliers — can be held responsible, and that answer varies significantly by state.
Preserve evidence before it disappears
Equipment gets repaired, sites get cleared, control system data ages out of retention, and witnesses move on. Much of what decides an industrial case exists only in the operator's records, and only for a limited period.
Use the right experts
Serious industrial claims generally require engineering, process safety, medical and economic evidence. We instruct specialists appropriate to the mechanism of injury rather than relying on general expertise.
Track both deadlines
A workers' compensation claim and a civil claim run on separate clocks under different parts of state law. Filing for benefits does not preserve a lawsuit. We track both from the outset.
Say what we actually think
If a claim is weak, or the realistic value is lower than you have been told elsewhere, we will say so early. Nobody benefits from a case that was never going to work.
How we are paid
Industrial accident claims are handled on a contingency fee basis: the fee is a percentage of what is recovered, and if there is no recovery there is no fee. The percentage and the treatment of case expenses are set out in a written agreement before any work begins, and we go through it with you rather than sending it to be signed. How contingency fees work explains this in more detail.
About the information on this site
The guidance published here is written and reviewed by attorneys at the firm. Where we state a legal rule — a filing deadline, a statutory provision, a fault rule — we cite the code section or the agency that administers it so you can check it yourself. Where we refer to injury or fatality figures, we name the source and the year.
Law changes, and pages carry the date they were last reviewed. Nothing on this site is legal advice for your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. If a page here conflicts with advice you have been given about your own case, rely on the advice.
Contact the Firm
No fee unless you recover
Case reviews are free and carry no obligation. If we take the case, our fee comes out of the recovery — never up front.
Speak With Our Industrial Accident Attorneys
Speak with an attorney about your situation. There is no obligation and no fee to speak with us.
No obligation · Website contact does not create an attorney-client relationship · Privacy · Admissions and local counsel