The process of litigation is part of the decentered complex governance structure of risks and disaster. The process highlights problems that other institutions deflect. Courts are also part of defining problems in governing disaster. Scholarship drawing on legal decisions, including concerning environmental decision making, often relies upon the final decision from a highest court of appeal. Most cases settle, and courts make temporary decisions that other courts subsequently overturn or vacate. This process also names and deflects problems. Therefore, looking only to highest courts of appeals misstates how courts participate in governance. However, the process of litigating in lower courts is complex to follow, with partial decisions and settlements. This paper traces the histories of key housing assistance cases taken after Hurricane Katrina, following their multiple iterations as well as how later cases drew upon them, through 2018. Although initial decisions evinced concern for those who had lost their homes, flexible legal standards and limits on groups' ability to litigate allowed courts to limit government agencies’ accountability in court. This paper argues for integrating courts into the governance of risks and hazards, and for following trial courts and process.