Stephen Baldwin loses BP oil spill case against Kevin Costner:
Jury rejects claim that Costner and business partner defrauded Baldwin and friend of $17m from Gulf clean-up contract
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 clean-up devices after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill have been rejected by a US jury.
The federal panel, sitting in US district court eastern district of Louisiana in New Orleans, deliberated for less than two hours before delivering the verdict in the lawsuit brought by Baldwin and his friend Spyridon Contogouris. The pair had asked for more than $17m in damages, the amount 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 $18m deposit on an order for 32 of them. The jury gave them nothing.
Costner said he was grateful for the opportunity to clear his name.
"My name means more to me than money and that's why we didn't settle," he said shortly after the verdict.
Contogouris and Baldwin sold their shares in Ocean Therapy Solutions for $1.4m and $500,000 respectively. Baldwin testified that he would have held out for more money if he had known BP had committed to ordering 32 centrifuges.
Lawyers for Costner and Smith said Baldwin and Contogouris knew BP was preparing to order the centrifuges when they sold their shares and walked away from the company rather than gamble for a more lucrative payout if BP signed a binding contract. At the time they sold their shares, BP had only signed a non-binding letter of intent, the defendants' lawyers said.
Baldwin referred questions about the verdict to his lawyer, James Cobb. "We're disappointed. We thought we proved rather convincingly that these two guys, Mr Costner and Mr Smith, defrauded us," he said. "The jury saw it a different way but we respect the jury's verdict."
Cobb questioned whether celebrity was a factor in the outcome "because I believe we proved our case and because the bigger celebrity won".
During the closing arguments, Cobb told jurors they probably saw the case as a "bunch of rich people fighting over money I'll never, ever see". But he said his clients deserved to be compensated for being lied to by Costner and Smith and defrauded out of their fair share of the BP money.
Costner's lawyer, Wayne Lee, argued that his client's fame was the only reason he was sued. The plaintiffs were mistaken when they thought Costner would "roll over and give in" under the threat of a lawsuit.
BP deployed a few of the centrifuges on a barge in June 2010. The company capped the well the following month, and it was permanently sealed in September 2010.
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Jury rejects claim that Costner and business partner defrauded Baldwin and friend of $17m from Gulf clean-up contract
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 clean-up devices after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill have been rejected by a US jury.
The federal panel, sitting in US district court eastern district of Louisiana in New Orleans, deliberated for less than two hours before delivering the verdict in the lawsuit brought by Baldwin and his friend Spyridon Contogouris. The pair had asked for more than $17m in damages, the amount 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 $18m deposit on an order for 32 of them. The jury gave them nothing.
Costner said he was grateful for the opportunity to clear his name.
"My name means more to me than money and that's why we didn't settle," he said shortly after the verdict.
Contogouris and Baldwin sold their shares in Ocean Therapy Solutions for $1.4m and $500,000 respectively. Baldwin testified that he would have held out for more money if he had known BP had committed to ordering 32 centrifuges.
Lawyers for Costner and Smith said Baldwin and Contogouris knew BP was preparing to order the centrifuges when they sold their shares and walked away from the company rather than gamble for a more lucrative payout if BP signed a binding contract. At the time they sold their shares, BP had only signed a non-binding letter of intent, the defendants' lawyers said.
Baldwin referred questions about the verdict to his lawyer, James Cobb. "We're disappointed. We thought we proved rather convincingly that these two guys, Mr Costner and Mr Smith, defrauded us," he said. "The jury saw it a different way but we respect the jury's verdict."
Cobb questioned whether celebrity was a factor in the outcome "because I believe we proved our case and because the bigger celebrity won".
During the closing arguments, Cobb told jurors they probably saw the case as a "bunch of rich people fighting over money I'll never, ever see". But he said his clients deserved to be compensated for being lied to by Costner and Smith and defrauded out of their fair share of the BP money.
Costner's lawyer, Wayne Lee, argued that his client's fame was the only reason he was sued. The plaintiffs were mistaken when they thought Costner would "roll over and give in" under the threat of a lawsuit.
BP deployed a few of the centrifuges on a barge in June 2010. The company capped the well the following month, and it was permanently sealed in September 2010.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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