Trial opens for suit against Costner over BP deal

NEW ORLEANS – Jury selection has begun in a legal fight between two Hollywood stars over investments in a device used to try to clean up BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In his lawsuit, actor Stephen Baldwin claims Kevin Costner and a business partner duped Baldwin and a friend out of their shares of an $18 million deal. The deal was for BP to buy oil-separating centrifuges after the spill.

U.S. District Judge Martin L.C. Feldman told prospective jurors that they could not be influenced by the celebrity status of Baldwin and Costner. Both actors were in court as proceedings started.

Baldwin and Costner did not interact before the proceedings started. Baldwin told The Associated Press his attorneys had advised him to make no comment on the case.