After reading attorney Steven Wieland’s bio, where he proclaims; “Winning at trial in a real-estate easement dispute involving a large lakefront commercial-development property in Northern Idaho” Well, I (the Trust manager) just had to respond! The Trust originally filed a lawsuit against two entities in Kootenai County Idaho, regarding an easement issue, illegal timber trespass, trespass, and other issues in October 2018, after sustaining millions of dollars in damages to their 120-year-old farmland, which included defendants building an illegal road on their property, and cutting down approximately seventy (70) one hundred (100) plus foot tall trees that can never be replaced. I reached out to Steve Wieland in January 2020, after our first attorney quit prior to Trial (Scheduled for early March 2020), wherein Steve proclaimed that he was an “Expert on land issues, especially easements, and was an experienced trial attorney.” In Steve’s first three weeks, Steve charged the Trust approximately $18,000.00 primarily for reading through the case notes I had provided. Steve also charged the Trust ridiculous fees to research how he would represent the Trust, even though he had stated that he was an “Expert” on the issues being litigated. Steve later jokingly stated that he didn’t think the Trust would pay him that much…REALLY…what choice did the Trust have! They were desperate and it was too late to find anyone else and Steve took advantage of this fact. The next couple of weeks, Steve charged even more outrageous charges for “…reviewing the case and strategy on how to win” instead of getting discovery completed, finding experts, preparing for a continuance, etc… At the first hearing Steve was unprepared and failed to procure a continuance for trial. The Trust desperately needed to disclose expert witnesses in order to win their damages. Steve failed to obtain any experts and failed to disclose the ones I had procured on behalf of the Trust, even though the judge allowed him time to submit them. The attorney who drafted the Trust original easement even met with Steve prior to trial to provide ideas on trial strategy regarding the illegitimate amended easement document (presented by defendants) in question as it was obvious that said amended easement had been manipulated and changed from its original format. Steve missed the opportunity to utilize “Failure of the Meeting of Minds” as one example to rid said bogus amended easement. The Trust was unable to secure a large damage amount at Trial as NO EXPERTS were retained to prove the loss in damages to their property. Steve had attempted to utilize his wife, Jaren, and even brought her with him for a vacation (at the Trust expense) in beautiful North Idaho where the two of them spent a great deal of time in the local pubs instead of adequately preparing for trial! Steve later charged the Trust approximately $30,000.00 plus in attorney fees on behalf of his wife who did absolutely NOTHING! During trial, Steve did not properly cross defendants witness, Sandy Young aka VERDIS, who the Trust believed had forged the amended easement document that was being disputed. The Trust was not awarded the million plus in damages to their property and only received the minimal amount of $50 dollars from the judge because Steve had never procured any expert witnesses to testify at Trial as to the extent of damages! Steve eventually sought almost $200,000.00 in attorney fees and costs for doing very little paperwork, and absolutely nothing to help the case! We hired another attorney to appeal. A monkey in a suit could have won the case with the overwhelming evidence I had provided to Steve to ensure a win! It was a no-brainer! The Trust eventually pursued legal malpractice against Steve Wieland So, before you consider hiring Steve Wieland (I would run for my life), make sure you have him put everything in writing and that he actually knows the subject matter you need legal assistance with!