BP Oil Spill Device Lands Actors Kevin Costner and Stephen Baldwin in Federal Court

Actors Kevin Costner and Stephen Baldwin are facing off in a New Orleans courtroom. Costner is being sued over profits from a device launched to combat the BP oil spill.

Jury selection is under way in a federal lawsuit Baldwin filed against Costner, saying he and a partner were excluded from a meeting Costner had with BP. The oil company agreed in June 2010 to order 32 machines, designed to spin collected sludge to separate oil from the water. However, BP capped the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico a month later, and the devices had little impact.

Baldwin and his partner sold their shares in the clean-up company before the deal went through, and Costner says he wasn’t aware Baldwin was selling his shares. The trial is expected to last two weeks.