diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/RegionServerCallable.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/RegionServerCallable.java
index 09f58a4b988..b446c3fb5e5 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/RegionServerCallable.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/RegionServerCallable.java
@@ -60,9 +60,6 @@ public abstract class RegionServerCallable<T> implements RetryingCallable<T> {
    */
   public RegionServerCallable(Connection connection, TableName tableName, byte [] row) {
     this.connection = connection;
-    if (tableName == null) {
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Given tableName is null");
-    }
     this.tableName = tableName;
     this.row = row;
   }
@@ -76,7 +73,7 @@ public abstract class RegionServerCallable<T> implements RetryingCallable<T> {
   @Override
   public void prepare(final boolean reload) throws IOException {
     // check table state if this is a retry
-    if (reload &&
+    if (reload && tableName != null &&
         !tableName.equals(TableName.META_TABLE_NAME) &&
         getConnection().isTableDisabled(tableName)) {
       throw new TableNotEnabledException(tableName.getNameAsString() + " is disabled.");
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestRpcControllerFactory.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestRpcControllerFactory.java
index 389f068c145..eb989d2992a 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestRpcControllerFactory.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestRpcControllerFactory.java
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ public class TestRpcControllerFactory {
       super.setPriority(tn);
       // ignore counts for system tables - it could change and we really only want to check on what
       // the client should change
-      if (!tn.isSystemTable()) {
+      if (tn != null && !tn.isSystemTable()) {
         TABLE_PRIORITY.incrementAndGet();
       }