Costner Hit With Lawsuit Over Oil-Spill Cleaning Device

Stephen Baldwin has sued fellow actor Kevin Costner over investments in a technology that BP used to help clean up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The two actors, among others, formed a company that developed centrifuges to separate oil from water.

But Baldwin sold his stake, and now alleges that Costner has excluded him from his rightful share of an $18 million deposit that BP made on the centrifuges. Costmer neglected to inform Baldwin about a meeting with BP officials that generated the deposit toward a $52 million sale, he claims, adding that it was without that knowledge that he agreed to sell his shares for $1.4 million a few days later.

Costner's representatives declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in New Orleans, according to the AP.

The April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, creating widespread damage to the ecosystem along the Gulf Coast and creating billions of dollars of economic damage to the region's fishing, shellfish and tourism industries. BP owns 65% of the rig.