Kevin Costner’s $17 Million Lawsuit With Stephen Baldwin Before Horizon 2 Stunt Woman’s Accusations: How Did It End?

Just when the dust had barely settled from Kevin Costner’s legal scuffle with Stephen Baldwin, a new storm is brewing. And it’s not for a blockbuster.

The higher you climb, the harder you fall.

It’s a line we’ve all heard, tossed around like a cliché until someone like Kevin Costner finds himself crashing headfirst into its meaning.

The cinematic icon with a career carved into American consciousness now stands at the frayed edge of public scrutiny.

First came a $17 million courtroom brawl with Stephen Baldwin over oil-spill profits that ended with Baldwin walking away empty-handed.

And now a civil lawsuit alleges that Costner, while directing Horizon: Chapter 2, oversaw a violent, unscheduled r**e scene that left stunt performer Devyn LaBella traumatized.

The $17 million grudge: Stephen Baldwin vs. Kevin Costner
Stephen Baldwin in The Least of These: The Graham Staines Story | Credit: Skypass Entertainment Inc.

Before Horizon, before allegations, Kevin Costner had already weathered a public trial.

In the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, Stephen Baldwin and his partner Spyridon Contogouris claimed the Yellowstone star had bamboozled them, allegedly withholding key information about a lucrative BP deal involving his centrifugal oil-water separation company.

Baldwin wanted $17 million in damages.

Instead, he left with zilch.

A jury sided with Costner, who, for a moment, emerged as the ruggedly principled businessman, perhaps even playing himself in real life (per Business Insider).

What about the Horizon of accusations: Devyn LaBella speaks out

If Stephen Baldwin’s case was about greed, Devyn LaBella’s is about grief.

Deep, cellular-level grief.

In May 2023, while filming Horizon: Chapter 2, LaBella, the accomplished stuntwoman who’s done high-stakes work in Barbie and Yellowjackets, was pulled into a scene she says crossed every professional and ethical boundary.

Kevin Costner in Horizon: An American Saga | Credits: Warner Bros.
The r**e scene wasn’t on the call sheet.

No intimacy coordinator.

No closed set.

No warning. Just a violent moment unfolding in a wagon with Roger Ivens, while cameras rolled and monitors broadcast every detail for the crew and producers to see (via NBC News).

Ella Hunt, the actor LaBella was doubling, had reportedly walked off set.

But the latter said she was misled into stepping in—literally—and left alone to “wait for the nightmare to end”.

After the scene, she sat in silence, alone, holding back tears in a prop wagon.

What followed was worse: victim-blaming, professional exile, and emotional fallout that landed her in therapy.

She stated:

On that day, I was left exposed, unprotected, and deeply betrayed by a system that promised safety and professionalism. What happened to me shattered my trust and forever changed how I move through this industry. This experience has ignited in me a lifelong mission to be the advocate I once needed, ensuring no one else is ever left as vulnerable as I was.

A still from Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2 | Credits: Warner Bros.
Costner’s legal counsel, Marty Singer, didn’t mince words.

He called the accusations “absolutely without merit”, and were “completely contradicted by her own actions.” .

Continuing, he added:

As a stunt performer on ‘Horizon 2,’ the scene in question was explained to Ms. LaBella, and after she performed the rehearsal in character with another actor, she gave her Stunt Coordinator supervisor a ‘thumbs up’ and indicated her willingness to then shoot the scene, if needed [which she was not].

After the incident, LaBella wasn’t invited back for Horizon 3. Her career, she said, was quietly strangled by silence.

“I was exposed, unprotected, and deeply betrayed,” she wrote.

It’s the kind of statement you can’t forget.

LaBella isn’t just seeking damages; she’s sounding an alarm. In her lawsuit, she’s calling out what she describes as the “continued failures” of Hollywood production companies to take seriously “the impacts of performing s*xually explicit and violent ‘scenes’.”.

 She also underscores “the need for intimacy coordination,” a role that, in theory, should act as a safeguard for actors in vulnerable situations (per PEOPLE).

Her statement is a pointed finger at an industry that too often sweeps discomfort under the rug!.