Vivint appeal fails as court affirms judgment in CPI lawsuit

RICHMOND, Va. — Smart home and home security product manufacturer Vivint is on the hook for $189.7 million in damages, including a $140 million punitive damages award, to CPI Security after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed its judgment from the 2023 case.

“When a business deliberately engages in widespread unfair competition against one of its rivals over a period of years, the consequences can be expensive,” Circuit Judge Paul Niemeyer wrote in his opinion filed along with judges DeAndrea Gist Benjamin and Nicole Berner on July 22, 2025.

The court considered a number of appeals filed by Vivint that included:

1. That the UDTPA requires a showing that CPI itself relied on the false statements made to CPI customers and that because there was no such evidence, Vivint was entitled to judgment on that claim;
2. That CPI failed to introduce evidence sufficient to support the award of $49.7 million in compensatory damages;
3. That the district court misapplied North Carolina’s cap on punitive damages
4. That the district court erroneously admitted prejudicial evidence after it wrongfully refused to bifurcate the punitive damages portion of the trial from the compensatory damages portion.

Circuit Judge Niemeyer and his fellow judges found insufficient evidence to warrant any of Vivint’s arguments and assertions made in its appeal, calling many of its claims, “…merely of the tilting-at-windmills variety.”

“Vivint had its day in court, and the two-week trial was essentially a fair one,” Niemeyer wrote. “The district court performed well within its discretion in making procedural rulings, and the jury spoke clearly, based on the evidence. We have found no basis to modify the result or to order a new trial. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.”

Filed in 2020 that lawsuit asserted that Vivint had used deceptive practices to lure customers away from CPI Security using a variety of false and deceptive sales practices. Security Systems News covered the initial trial and Vivint’s response in 2023. The company had called the amount for damages awarded in the ruling "egregious" and vowed to appeal.