Patricia Smith v. Basin Park Hotel, Inc., an Arkansas Corporation

MELLOY, Circuit Judge.

Patricia Smith appeals the district court’s adverse grant of summary judgment in this diversity tort action arising out of a slip-and-fall case at the Basin Park Hotel in Arkansas. We reverse.

I. Background

On May 29, 1999, Patricia Smith (“Smith”) and her husband cheeked into the Basin Park Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, to attend a family wedding. On the morning of May 31, 1999, Smith left her room and took the stairs down to the lobby. As she descended the last flight of steps into the lobby, Smith slipped and fell onto her back. Smith filed suit against Basin Park…