diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 396098cbd79..05e4b0b3508 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ Release 0.18.2 - Unreleased
    HBASE-981   hbase.io.index.interval doesn't seem to have an effect;
                interval is 128 rather than the configured 32
    HBASE-1070  Up default index interval in TRUNK and branch
+   HBASE-1079  Dumb NPE in ServerCallable hides the RetriesExhausted exception
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
    HBASE-1046  Narrow getClosestRowBefore by passing column family (backport)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ServerCallable.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ServerCallable.java
index ab5fe6b4cb4..cc777aa4afc 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ServerCallable.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ServerCallable.java
@@ -68,6 +68,9 @@ public abstract class ServerCallable<T> implements Callable<T> {
   
   /** @return the region name */
   public byte[] getRegionName() {
+    if (location == null) {
+      return null;
+    }
     return location.getRegionInfo().getRegionName();
   }
   
@@ -75,4 +78,4 @@ public abstract class ServerCallable<T> implements Callable<T> {
   public byte [] getRow() {
     return row;
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}