I don't think the US House is presently under the control of the trial lawyers, and the place has passed tort reform. But I could be wrong.
The most recent attempt to control trial lawyer excesses -- by capping non-economic damages (the open-ended ones on which lawyers get rich when juries go wild) at $250,000 -- was defeated just two months ago in Congress. Do trial lawyers control Congress? For now, the answer is yes.
And that's one of the reasons I may run for Congress. Watch this space....
Billybob / John