Question: What is a “Evidentiary Harpoon” at trial?
Answer: An evidentiary harpoon occurs when a trial attorney places inadmissible evidence before the jury for the deliberate purpose of prejudicing the jurors against the opposing party. Thus, to prevail on such a claim of error, the party asserting that an evidentiary harpoon was used at trial must show that (1) the opposing counsel acted deliberately to prejudice the jury and (2) the evidence was inadmissible.