diff --git a/share/server/util.js b/share/server/util.js
index 80abc3332c..6deadada15 100644
--- a/share/server/util.js
+++ b/share/server/util.js
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ var Couch = {
 };
 
 function errstr(e) {
+  if (e == null) return String(e);
   // toSource() is a Spidermonkey "special"
   return (e.toSource ? e.toSource() : e.toString());
 };
diff --git a/share/server/views.js b/share/server/views.js
index d414436bd9..19a6a8928d 100644
--- a/share/server/views.js
+++ b/share/server/views.js
@@ -70,11 +70,11 @@ var Views = (function() {
       // JavaScript process. If you need to destroy the JavaScript
       // process, throw the error form matched by the block below.
       throw(["error", "map_runtime_error", "function raised 'fatal_error'"]);
-    } else if (err[0] == "fatal") {
+    } else if (err && err[0] == "fatal") {
       // Throwing errors of the form ["fatal","error_key","reason"]
       // will kill the OS process. This is not normally what you want.
       throw(err);
-    } else if (err.name == "InternalError") {
+    } else if (err && err.name == "InternalError") {
       throw(["fatal", err.name, err.message]);
     }
     var message = "function raised exception " + errstr(err);