What Florida is alleging
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican seeking another term, announced the case on X, arguing First Street's data is inaccurate and saying "homeowners deserve facts, not alarmist scores that hit their property values and their wallets." The complaint portrays the company's work as advocacy instead of neutral analysis, accusing it of "climate chicanery," "marketing fear to advance a climate activism agenda," and profiting from information about "fake" risks.
Florida's filing also notes the state's affordability crunch, with insurance prices jumping, and argues that disputed scores could potentially influence what residents pay and whether they are covered because insurers use First Street data. The lawsuit names First Street Technology Inc.; MSCI Inc. purchased the company in a recent deal. MSCI did not respond to a request for comment.
How the scores work and where they show up
Relying on computer simulations, First Street estimates address-level risk - both today and decades into the future - from threats such as floods, wildfires, extreme heat, high winds, and additional perils. It then turns those estimates into a 1-to-10 score and distributes them broadly through real-estate websites.
After the company's first major report in 2020, Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com began integrating the ratings. Connecticut's insurance department also partnered with First Street to give residents free property risk checks. The spread of these grades has stirred pushback: last year Zillow removed First Street's scores from listings after opposition from the California Regional Multiple Listing Service, and both home sellers and agents have said the ratings can weigh on prices and sales.
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What outside reporting and one expert add
Climate-risk modeling is sophisticated, but it gets less certain the closer you zoom in. In 2024, Bloomberg set First Street's granular 2020 flood-risk assessment for Los Angeles alongside a map produced by an academic team and reported that the two matched in about one-quarter of places.
Madison Condon, a Boston University law professor whose work examines climate risk, regulation, and finance, expressed unease about how First Street has promoted its data. At the same time, she cautioned that suits like this could deter the release of physical climate-risk information, and noted the science is inherently uncertain, adding that "scientific models can disagree without being willfully deceptive."
The bottom line for investors
This fight, echoing Nebraska's August case, lands in the middle of a home-insurance squeeze and puts a spotlight on data that insurers use and that real-estate sites display. If courts question how these scores are produced or marketed, watch for changes in what consumers see, how insurers underwrite coverage, and how much weight markets give to third-party climate metrics.
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