"Use of unassigned local variable" error that seems wrong

Unity is protesting. It gives me the error: Use of unassigned local variable `att'. It gives the error for the return-line, not for the line in the if-statement.

In some cases like if you have a local variable declaration inside a code-block you can sometimes get this error, but I can't see how this function can not see the declaration. Anyone have any ideas? What am I not seeing? Thanks!

 public cBaseStats GetAttribute(string name)
     {
         int cnt;
         cBaseStats att = new cBaseStats();
         for (cnt = 0; cnt < _attrib.Length; cnt++)
         {
             if (_attrib[cnt].Name == name)
                 att = _attrib[cnt];
         }
         return att;