Index: includes/theme.inc
===================================================================
--- includes/theme.inc	(revision 5844)
+++ includes/theme.inc	(working copy)
@@ -590,7 +605,7 @@
  */
 function theme_form_element($title, $value, $description = NULL, $id = NULL, $required = FALSE, $error = FALSE) {
 
-  $output  = '<div class="form-item">'."\n";
+  $output  = '<div class="'._form_get_class('form-item', $required, $error).'">'."\n";
   $required = $required ? '<span class="form-required">*</span>' : '';
 
   if ($title) {