diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index a3ced48478b..3b4414b3dcd 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -178,6 +178,8 @@ Release 0.20.0 - Unreleased
    HBASE-1520  StoreFileScanner catches and ignore IOExceptions from HFile
    HBASE-1522  We delete splits before their time occasionally
    HBASE-1523  NPE in BaseScanner
+   HBASE-1525  HTable.incrementColumnValue hangs()
+
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
    HBASE-1089  Add count of regions on filesystem to master UI; add percentage
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
index b020dedf6ef..d13adf61988 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
@@ -2268,9 +2268,7 @@ public class HRegion implements HConstants { // , Writable{
       Store store = stores.get(family);
       result = store.incrementColumnValue(row, family, qualifier, amount);
     } finally {
-      if(lid == null) {
-        releaseRowLock(lid);
-      }
+      releaseRowLock(lid);
     }
     return result;
   }