STEPHEN BALDWIN LOSES MULTI-MILLION LAWSUIT IN BP OIL SPILL CASE

A federal jury late Thursday rejected claims that Kevin Costner and his business partner duped fellow actor Stephen Baldwin and a friend out of millions of dollars from a BP contract for using oil cleanup devices in the aftermath of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill.  The panel deliberated for less than two hours before delivering the verdict in the lawsuit brought by Baldwin and his friend, Spyridon Contogouris. Their lawyer had asked the eight-member jury to award the plaintiffs more than $17 million in damages. That's how much they estimate they would have received if they hadn't sold their shares in a company that marketed oil-separating centrifuges to BP before the oil giant made an $18 million deposit on a $52 million order for 32 of the devices.