John Kiriakou v. John Bamford

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: March 10, 2023
• Docket: 22-1652
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

USCA4 Appeal: 22-1652 Doc: 39 Filed: 03/10/2023 Pg: 1 of 3

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 22-1652

JOHN C. KIRIAKOU,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

JOHN BAMFORD; HEATHER K. KIRIAKOU; NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION,

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Claude M. Hilton, Senior District Judge. (1:20-cv-00662-CMH-JFA)

Submitted: January 31, 2023 Decided: March 10, 2023

Before DIAZ and RICHARDSON, Circuit Judges, and FLOYD, Senior Circuit Judge.

Vacated and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

ON BRIEF: Bruce Fein, LAW OFFICES OF BRUCE FEIN, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Ilana H. Eisenstein, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Brett Ingerman, DLA PIPER LLP (US), Baltimore, Maryland; Richard C. Sullivan Jr., Jonathan M. Harrison II, BEAN, KINNEY & KORMAN, P.C., Arlington, Virginia; Ryan Samuel, ARLINGTON COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Arlington, Virginia, for Appellees.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 22-1652 Doc: 39 Filed: 03/10/2023 Pg: 2 of 3

PER CURIAM:

John Kiriakou appeals the district court’s order dismissing for lack of standing his

refiled civil complaint. On appeal, Kiriakou, who had previously filed for bankruptcy

under Chapter 7, contends that because he acquired the bankruptcy estate’s interest in the

litigation claims before filing his second complaint, he adequately pleaded standing. For

the reasons that follow, we vacate the district court’s order and remand for further

proceedings.

We review de novo a district court’s dismissal for lack of standing. Episcopal

Church in S.C. v. Church Ins. Co. of Vt., 997 F.3d 149, 154 (4th Cir. 2021). As the party

invoking the district court’s jurisdiction, Kiriakou bears the burden of demonstrating

standing. Id. “If a cause of action is part of the estate of the bankrupt then the trustee alone

has standing to bring that claim.” Nat’l Am. Ins. Co. v. Ruppert Landscaping Co., 187 F.3d

439, 441 (4th Cir. 1999).

It is undisputed that Kiriakou had acquired from the bankruptcy estate the causes of

action pleaded in his second complaint after the district court dismissed his first complaint

for lack of standing. In the second complaint, Kiriakou alleged that all causes of action

belonged to him, though he did not specifically mention the bankruptcy trustee’s return of

the claims to him. Moreover, a review of the bankruptcy court’s docket discloses that

Kiriakou had acquired the causes of action, a fact of which the district court could have

taken judicial notice. See United States v. Townsend, 886 F.3d 441, 444 (4th Cir. 2018)

(noting that court records are the most common type of judicially noticed records).

2 USCA4 Appeal: 22-1652 Doc: 39 Filed: 03/10/2023 Pg: 3 of 3

Accordingly, although we deny as moot Kiriakou’s motion for summary reversal,

we vacate the district court’s order and remand for further proceedings. We dispense with

oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the

materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

VACATED AND REMANDED