An elderly woman died in front of the convention center in New Orleans during the chaos following hurricane Katrina. Her son sued the State of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, but the case was thrown out.

A federal judge held that the company which owned the barge that broke loose in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina and rammed into the ninth ward levees is not liable for damages.

A federal appeals court dismissed $1 million in punitive damages that had been awarded to a couple from Mississippi who had sued State Farm for denying their claim of wind damage to their home, destroyed by flooding and wind.

A federal judge stopped Mississippi attorneys once associated with famed attorney Dickie Scruggs (who engineered tobacco company lawsuits) from representing State Farm policyholders in lawsuits against the insurance giant. Scruggs recently pled guilty to bribery of a judge in another Katrina case..

A federal judge earlier this year ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers is immune from liabilityin a class action lawsuits filed against the agency.

What does this latest trend of anti-Katrina survivor judgements mean? At the very least, in most cases, examples of insult to injury. Not only have many hard-working, taxpaying hurricane Katrina survivors obviously suffered damages and hardships from the disasters that incited the litigations, but they are now getting the “short end of the stick”.

Of course courts were deluged with a hail of lawsuits after Katrina. In many cases it’s insurance company litigation.

One problem is that after working hard, buying a house, and maintaining homeowners insurance, many people never purchase a flood insurance policy they need, for whatever reasons. Most insurance companies assert that homeowner policies cover wind but not water damage.

Yet, if the government has found that it did, in fact, make mistakes following hurricane Katrina, has learned its lesson well, and therefore should not be held liable, then perhaps the homeowners who admittedly made the mistake of not having that flood policy have learned their lessons as well and in some cases should not be held liable.