diff --git a/middleware/408.js b/middleware/408.js
index 2b2a7b8a..9688af2e 100644
--- a/middleware/408.js
+++ b/middleware/408.js
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@
 // handle time out errors
 function middleware(err, req, res, next) {
   res.header('Cache-Control','no-cache');
-  if( res.statusCode === 408 || (err.message.toLowerCase().indexOf('request timeout') !== -1) ){ 
+  var error = err.message ? err.message : err;
+  
+  if( res.statusCode === 408 || (error.toLowerCase().indexOf('request timeout') !== -1) ){ 
   	res.status(408); 
-  	res.json({ error: err && typeof err.message === 'string' ? err.message : 'request time out' });
+  	res.json({ error: error === 'string' ? error : 'request time out' });
   } else {
   	next(err);
   }
diff --git a/middleware/500.js b/middleware/500.js
index 9f274e23..373ef958 100644
--- a/middleware/500.js
+++ b/middleware/500.js
@@ -4,8 +4,9 @@ var logger = require( 'pelias-logger' ).get( 'middleware-500' );
 function middleware(err, req, res, next) {
   logger.error( 'Error: `%s`. Stack trace: `%s`.', err, err.stack );
   res.header('Cache-Control','no-cache');
+  var error = err.message ? err.message : err;
   if( res.statusCode < 400 ){ res.status(500); }
-  res.json({ error: err && typeof err.message === 'string' ? err.message : 'internal server error' });
+  res.json({ error: typeof error === 'string' ? error : 'internal server error' });
 }
 
 module.exports = middleware;