Office of the Attorney General v. First Street Technology, Inc.

The Florida Office of the Attorney General filed an action in Florida Circuit Court asserting that First Street Technology, Inc. (First Street) violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by seeking “to add alarming climate risk factors to the homebuying decision and to profit from risk scores that use faulty models to exaggerate the risk.” The suit was filed approximately two months after the State of Nebraska filed a similar suit against First Street asserting violations of the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act and Nebraska Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The Florida Attorney General’s complaint alleged that First Street’s Risk Factor product—which quantifies a property’s climate risk based on numeric scores for flood, fire, wind, air quality, and heat risks—provides misleading and vague information and is not subject to scientific peer review. The complaint alleged that First Street’s data regarding Florida included “inconsistencies or data blown out of proportion by First Street with the intent to fear monger in the name of climate advocacy.” The complaint alleged that First Street’s Risk Factor data negatively impacted Florida consumers who were selling their homes and also affected financing and resulted in increased insurance costs. The complaint sought injunctive relief, equitable relief including redress for consumers and disgorgement of “ill-gotten gains,” civil penalties, and attorney fees and costs.