Baldwin’s lawsuit against Costner over BP deal begins

Two Hollywood stars could spend the next two weeks in a New Orleans courtroom on opposing sides in a legal drama.

Jury selection was scheduled yesterday for Stephen Baldwin’s federal lawsuit against fellow actor Kevin Costner over their investments in a device BP used in trying to clean up the huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Both are expected to testify.

The lawsuit claims that Costner and a business partner duped Baldwin and a friend, Spyridon Contogouris, out of their shares of an $18m (€14.4m) deal for BP to buy centrifuges — which separate oil from water — after the Apr 2010 spill.