Can I sue if I slip and fall at Northgate Market?

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

Beverly Law is not affiliated with Northgate Market or Northgate González Markets.

Who runs Northgate Market

Northgate is a family business based in Southern California. The company says Don Miguel González Jiménez opened the first Northgate Market in 1980 in what had been a liquor store (Our Heritage). The Orange County Business Journal reported in 2012 that he bought a small store on Anaheim Boulevard and kept the Northgate name because he could not afford a new sign, that the chain was family-owned and run by his 13 children, and that its headquarters was at 1201 N. Magnolia Ave. in Anaheim (OCBJ, July 27, 2012). The same article said the chain primarily serves the Hispanic market.

The stores also prepare food on site. Northgate’s website describes guacamole made in the store each day and a ceviche bar with more than 12 varieties (Our Food).

How the chain has grown

The current list runs from Fallbrook, Vista, Escondido and San Diego in the south to Santa Ana (five locations), Anaheim (four), Long Beach and Los Angeles (three each), and inland to Riverside, Fontana and Chino. Each listing has its own store phone number.

Reporting a fall, in Spanish or English

Tell a manager before you leave, in whichever language you are more comfortable using, and ask that an incident report be made. Ask for the manager’s name and write down the time. Northgate’s online feedback page has a category for an experience at a Northgate store and a link to answer in Spanish (Northgate Listens). A short written message there gives you a dated record of your report. Keep it factual: where you fell, what was on the floor, who helped you.

Language should not keep you from pursuing a claim. California law sets rules for court interpreters in civil cases for parties who do not speak or understand English well, and a party “shall not be charged a fee” for a court interpreter (Evid. Code 756). When funding is short, courts serve other case types first and ordinary civil suits last, so ask early if you will need one.

What to ask the store to keep, in writing:

• Video of the aisle or counter from well before the fall
• The floor inspection or sweep record for that area
• Cleaning records for any service counter near where you fell
• The incident report and the names of employees who responded

What a California shopper must prove

A store must use reasonable care, but it is not an insurer of its customers’ safety. If the store did not create the hazard, you must show it knew about it or that it existed long enough to be found (Ortega v. Kmart Corp. (2001) 26 Cal.4th 1200, 1205-1206). In a self-service grocery store, where customers handle the goods, ordinary care may require more precautions and more frequent inspections (Ortega, at 1205).

Timing can sink a case that looks strong. In Girvetz v. Boys’ Market, Inc. (1949), a shopper slipped on a banana near a market’s vegetable department. The court agreed that ordinary care in a public market “involves a more vigilant outlook,” and that the time needed to discover a hazard varies with the circumstances. But the only evidence of timing was a customer who saw the banana on the floor about a minute and a half before the fall, and the court held that “one and one-half minutes is too short a period.” The store won.

The lesson for a Northgate fall: try to learn how long the spill was there. A witness who saw it earlier, a sweep log with a long gap or video of the aisle can each supply that proof.

Why a Northgate case may stay in state court

Our California store fall page explains how national chains based in other states move injury cases to federal court. That route has a limit. A case that could go to federal court only because the parties are from different states may not be removed if a properly joined and served defendant is a citizen of the state where the suit was filed (28 U.S.C. 1441(b)(2)). Northgate was founded in Anaheim and had its headquarters there in 2012, according to the OCBJ, so this rule may keep a California shopper’s case in state court. Whether it applies depends on how the specific Northgate company named in the suit is organized.

What this means for your case

Your fall happened at a California company that runs its stores only in California, so California law and, quite possibly, a California state court will decide it. Focus on the time question from the start. Read what to do after a slip and fall, then slip and fall evidence and slip and fall with no witnesses. Check your dates on the slip and fall deadline page; generally two years against the store (CCP 335.1), and generally six months for a written claim if a city owns the sidewalk where you fell (Gov. Code 911.2). Then weigh whether a slip and fall is worth suing over. More answers are in our injury FAQs.

Common questions

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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.