This is a civil lawsuit brought by Twentieth Century-Fox against both Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as a result of their actions during the filming of Cleopatra. The complaint contained several causes of action, some against Taylor only, some against Burton only, and some against both of them. Taylor was a citizen of the United States, but not any individual state. Burton was a British resident. The action was first filed in the New York state court. The entire case was removed to federal court on the basis of diversity of citizenship between Burton and plaintiff, even though no diversity existed as to Taylor. Twentieth Century moved to remand the entire action back to the state court. The court found that four of the five causes of action were properly in federal court, even though two of them were against Taylor only, because there were common questions between these causes of action and the ones against Burton. Since the fifth cause of action contained no common questions, it was remanded.
1. State each cause of action in a separate sentence.
2. Why were Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton sued by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation?
3. Why was Richard Burton able to move the case to federal court?
4. What was the nature of the motion that was made in this case? Who made the motion?
5. Why did the federal court decide to retain jurisdiction over the first, third, and fourth causes of action even though they involved neither a federal question nor diversity of citizenship?