Can I sue if I slip and fall at Smart & Final?

By Michael Shemtoub, trial attorney, Beverly Law. Updated November 2026.

Beverly Law is not affiliated with Smart & Final.

Who owns Smart & Final

Smart & Final has changed hands more than once, and that history explains who you are dealing with today.

• The company says it has sold groceries since 1871 (About Us).
• As a public company, Smart & Final Stores, Inc. reported that on December 30, 2018 it ran 260 Smart & Final stores in California, Arizona and Nevada (2018 Form 10-K).
• In May 2021, Bodega Latina Corporation, a subsidiary of the Mexican retailer Grupo Comercial Chedraui, S.A.B. de C.V., agreed to buy Smart & Final from funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management for about $620 million, including assumed debt (Business Wire, May 13, 2021).
• By December 2021, Bodega Latina was being renamed Chedraui USA, and Smart & Final was headquartered in Commerce, California (Business Wire, Dec. 17, 2021).
• Chedraui USA now lists El Super, Fiesta Mart and Smart & Final as its store banners, with 383 stores across five states (Chedraui USA).
• Smart & Final describes itself as having 253 stores across California, Nevada and Arizona (About Us).

The company that runs the stores is the one that answers an injury suit. In a 2020 federal court order in a California case that did not involve a fall, the store defendant was named as Smart and Final Stores LLC (Balsamo v. Smart and Final Stores LLC). A lawyer should confirm the right entity before filing.

Warehouse-style aisles and who created the hazard

In that 2018 annual report, the company described its stores as “convenient, non-membership, smaller-box, warehouse-style” stores and said business customers accounted for about 30% of Smart & Final sales. In a store built around bulk packs, a fall can happen near a pallet, a stocking cart, a broken case or a spot an employee just cleaned.

That detail matters in California because of who caused the hazard. In Hatfield v. Levy Brothers (1941) 18 Cal.2d 798, a shopper slipped on wax on the floor of a San Mateo store that an employee had waxed that morning. The California Supreme Court held that when the owner or an employee acting within the scope of the job creates the dangerous condition, the owner cannot claim it had no notice; knowledge is imputed to it. The court upheld the jury’s verdict for the shopper.

When another customer created the hazard, such as a dropped bottle, the rule changes. Then the shopper must show the store knew of it or should have found it with reasonable care, and in a store where customers handle the merchandise, ordinary care may call for more frequent inspections (Ortega v. Kmart Corp. (2001) 26 Cal.4th 1200, 1205-1206). Hatfield also says the question of whether a condition existed long enough to be discovered is one for the jury.

So one of the first questions in a Smart & Final case is simple: who put it there?

How to report it and what to request

Tell the store manager before you leave, and ask that a report be written. For a written record outside the store, Smart & Final’s customer support line is (800) 894-0511, open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and its website has a contact form (Contact Us). Describe what happened in plain facts and do not guess about fault.

Because the hazard’s source decides which rule applies, the written preservation request should go beyond the video and the incident report. Ask the company to keep:

• The stocking or restocking schedule for that aisle on that day
• The names of employees who worked that aisle, ran equipment there or cleaned the floor
• Any record of floor cleaning, waxing or other floor treatment that day
• Video of the aisle from before the fall, which may show who left the item or liquid
• If merchandise fell on you, the product itself and photos of how the shelf was stocked

Deadlines, your share of fault and who pays

On payment, the 2018 annual report said the company used a combination of insurance and self-insurance plans for potential liabilities that included general liability. That report predates the sale to Chedraui, so current arrangements may differ. What it tells you is that the person evaluating your claim may represent the company’s own risk program rather than a traditional insurance policy.

What this means for your case

Write down what was near you when you fell: a pallet, a stocking cart, an employee with a mop, a case on the floor. Those details point to whether an employee created the hazard, which can spare you the hardest part of a fall case. Start with what to do after a slip and fall, then read about slip and fall evidence and, if nobody saw it, slip and fall with no witnesses. Keep the slip and fall deadline in view, and see whether a slip and fall is worth suing over. Our California store fall page covers other large chains, and more answers are in our injury FAQs.

Common questions

Related pages

Injury law FAQs

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 7, 2026.