Nebraska AG files lawsuit against First Street over climate risk scores

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is suing a climate risk company for allegedly harming Nebraska homeowners by providing inaccurate and misleading risk scores.

Hilgers filed the lawsuit against First Street on Thursday, claiming the company has made it difficult for homeowners in Nebraska to sell their homes.

The lawsuit alleges that many of First Street’s scores are based on inaccurate or incomplete information about the property being scored, including failing to account for certain flooding protection measures homeowners have invested in.

First Street is also accused of failing to disclose that its predictions could be different from the federal government’s data or other climate risk model predictions, Hilgers’s office said.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that First Street insulates its predictions by withholding its underlying data as proprietary and through an express policy of refusing to consider consumer disputes.

Hilgers’s office said despite the alleged issues, major real estate companies direct people to First Street’s predictions by linking them to real estate listings. This has allegedly resulted in homeowners accepting reduced prices from buyers relying on First Street’s scores or watching their homes sit on the market for longer than expected.

“First Street is making a profit at the expense of the value of Nebraskans’ homes,” Hilgers said. “First Street passes off misleading and often inaccurate climate speculation in a way that drives down home values and increases costs and frustrations for Nebraskans. The deceptive behavior has to stop.”

Hilgers is asking the court to stop First Street’s business practices, make the company pay fines, and return unlawfully earned profits.

Hilgers’s office said the lawsuit was filed in Dakota County District Court, where many homeowners were negatively affected by First Street’s inaccurate climate scores.

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