diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFile.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFile.java
index 133eb092fca..088f002c5e4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFile.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFile.java
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ public class StoreFile {
 
     try {
       byte [] timerangeBytes = metadataMap.get(TIMERANGE_KEY);
-      if (b != null) {
+      if (timerangeBytes != null) {
         this.reader.timeRangeTracker = new TimeRangeTracker();
         Writables.copyWritable(timerangeBytes, this.reader.timeRangeTracker);
       }