Personal injury trial lawyers poured millions of dollars into Texas elections this cycle, including more than $6 million to front groups and the Texas Democratic Party, a grass roots organization reported Nov. 24.

Five years ago, Texas voters adopted Proposition 12, the constitutional amendment ratifying the cap on noneconomic damages in lawsuits against doctors that the Texas Legislature established in House Bill 4.

As voters mull the stakes in this year's election, here's an issue that ought to ring alarms in the ears of serious people: tort reform. After 20 years of state and federal efforts to reform a runaway legal system, the trial bar is reviving the monster.