Florida AG sues First Street Technology, alleging its flood risk scores inflate insurance costs and tank home values

Joe Raedle and NurPhoto/Getty Images

If you live in Florida, you might be overpaying for flood insurance — and unfortunately there’s very little you can do about it.

Attorney General James Uthmeier recently filed a lawsuit against First Street Technologya company that rates individual homes on multiple types of risks. These risk models, which include flood, wildfire and extreme heatare then used by insurers to determine insurance pricing in the area.

Must Read

The ratings are also provided to consumers through companies like Zillow.

Uthmeier alleges that the First Street Technology has broken the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by misrepresenting Flood risk numbers as accurate to Florida residents.

Here’s what’s behind those claims.

Higher climate numbers means higher insurance rates and less home sales

In the lawsuit, Uthmeier says that First Street’s flood risk ratings routinely deviate from trusted, government-made FEMA flood maps.

The lawsuit cites a study that says First Street models agree with FEMA models around 55% of the time, on average, but only around 23% to 24% in areas with medium and high urbanization.

“First Street rates certain properties as major flood risk, but FEMA rates the same properties as minimal flood hazard, the lowest federal certification,” said James Uthmeier in an X post on Oct. 23.

The lawsuit also cites a Better Business Bureau complaint where the customer said their house was given a 10/10 flood rating indicating extreme risk, while their next-door neighbors were both given a 1/10 rating.

The lawsuit alleges that First Street’s models are faulty, and that they exaggerate the risk that homeowners or prospective home buyers face. This matters because homes with high climate risk ratings tend to sell less often and for lower amounts of money. If underwriters are basing risk on exaggerated numbers, then the insurance they provide will have a higher cost.

“Florida homeowners deserve facts, not alarmist scores that hit their property values and their wallets,” Uthmeier said.

The Florida AG’s campaign against climate-focused organizations

Inflated rating risks have real consequences for consumers. But Uthmeier’s lawsuit isn’t just about the accuracy of the numbers.

The Florida Attorney General has been focused on climate-focused companies for some time. In 2025, he launched an investigation into a “climate cartel,” issuing subpoenas to the CDP and the Science Based Targets Initiative — two charities that help companies take action against climate change.

“Radical climate activists have hijacked corporate governance and weaponized it against the free market,” said Uthmeier in a press release. “Florida will not sit back while international pressure groups shake down American companies to fund their ESG grift.”

This year, he accused two other companies of being part of the “climate cartel” in a separate investigation into the Environmental Law Institute and the Climate Judiciary Project. He also led a group of six Attorneys General in a warning against the “ringleader of the ‘climate cartel,’” Ceres.

Uthmeier uses similar charged language in the First Street lawsuit, although he never referred to them as being part of the “climate cartel.” He says that Florida sellers are “stuck with perfectly good homes tainted with First Street’s climate chicanery,” and says that First Street intends to “fear monger in the name of climate advocacy.”

“First Street is marketing fear to advance a climate activism agenda while exploiting the same fear to line their pockets,” said Uthmeier in the lawsuit.

On its websiteFirst Street Technology says its mission is “connecting climate and financial risk,” adding, “It’s not too late. With the right data, we can identify the problems, avoid bad investments, and implement solutions.”

“Most underwriting for real assets still uses historical data, but the climate is no longer behaving the way the historical record would predict,” wrote First Street founder Matthew Eby. “As heat, drought, and water stress increase, outdated models simply don’t offer a complete view of risk anymore.”

First Street Technology and Attorney General James Uthmeier did not immediately respond to a request for comment.