diff --git a/Drupal_Apache_Solr_Service.php b/Drupal_Apache_Solr_Service.php
index a99a567..56c0eae 100644
--- a/Drupal_Apache_Solr_Service.php
+++ b/Drupal_Apache_Solr_Service.php
@@ -561,7 +561,13 @@ class DrupalApacheSolrService implements DrupalApacheSolrServiceInterface {
     }
     // Additional information may be in the error property.
     if (isset($result->error)) {
-      $result->status_message .= ': ' . check_plain($result->error);
+      if (isset($result->status_message)) {
+        $result->status_message .= ': ' . check_plain($result->error);
+      }
+      else {
+        $result->status_message = check_plain($result->error);
+      }
+
     }
 
     if (!isset($result->data)) {