UNPUBLISHED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Vacated and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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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). 

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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

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