Court Opinion

ID: 9378670
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-03-11 21:00:23.302901+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:37.174674
License: Public Domain

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                                            UNPUBLISHED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        Vacated and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.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        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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