Wayne State University law professor Peter J. Henning is quoted in a story about the status of the legal case against Enron Corp's former chairman and chief executive officer, Kenneth Lay, following his recent death. Henning wrote in his blog that under the 5th Circuit's so-called abatement doctrine, "the entire case is viewed, legally, as never having been filed. "…it is as if Lay died the day before the indictment and so nothing ever took place after that point in the eyes of the law." Henning also wrote that there is another legal doctrine which holds that one cannot defame a dead person.