Jury Give Verdict in Case of Baldwin v Costner

Two weeks ago I wrote a short piece on the court case between two of Hollywood’s actors; Kevin Costner and Stephen Baldwin. This week we have the verdict.

Over 15 years ago Costner and a team of engineers started to develop centrifugal oil-water separators at Costner’s company Ocean Therapy Solutions (OTS). Costner deeply believed in the project, investing $20 million of his own money, until his faith was finally rewarded in 2010.

In the aftermath of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP purchased 32 of Costner’s machines, flooding OTS with money and creating more promising, million dollar business partnerships.

However Stephen Baldwin wasn’t too happy with Costner’s success. He believes that Costner duped him into selling his share in OTS just before BP made their deal. Firm in his belief he filed a law suit against Costner suing for $17 million in damages.

Yesterday, just a little less than two weeks after the case started, a federal jury has dismissed Baldwin’s claims and sided with Costner. The verdict took less than two hours to decide.

“My name means more to me than money and that's why we didn't settle,” Costner told reporters.

“We're disappointed. We thought we proved rather convincingly that these two guys, Mr. Costner and Mr. Smith, defrauded us,” Baldwin's attorney James Cobb said. “The jury saw it a different way but we respect the jury's verdict.”

You can watch video of Costner and Cobb discussing the verdict here.

By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com