diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Middleware/Session.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Middleware/Session.pm
index 3f70cf908..37eb67fac 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Middleware/Session.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Middleware/Session.pm
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ sub call {
 
     my $session = try {
         $env->{'webgui.session'} = WebGUI::Session->open( $config->getWebguiRoot, $config, $env );
+    } catch {
+        # We don't have a logger object, so for now just warn() the error
+        warn "Unable to instantiate WebGUI::Session - $_";
     };
 
     if ( !$session ) {
@@ -49,7 +52,11 @@ sub call {
         # We don't have access to a db connection to find out if the user is allowed to see
         # a verbose error message or not, so resort to a generic Internal Server Error
         # (using the error_docs mapping)
-        return Plack::Middleware::ErrorDocument->wrap( sub { [ 500, [], [] ] }, %{ $self->error_docs } )->($env);
+        if ($self->error_docs) {
+            return Plack::Middleware::ErrorDocument->wrap( sub { [ 500, [], [] ] }, %{ $self->error_docs } )->($env);
+        } else {
+            return [ 500, [ 'Content-Type' => 'text/plain' ], [ 'Internal Server Error' ] ];
+        }
     }
 
     my $debug = $session->log->canShowDebug;
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Session/ErrorHandler.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Session/ErrorHandler.pm
index a2ad0e913..682f7072f 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Session/ErrorHandler.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Session/ErrorHandler.pm
@@ -272,27 +272,7 @@ Returns a reference to the logger.
 
 =cut
 
-sub getLogger {
-	my $self = shift;
-	if ($self->session->request) {
-        return $self->session->request->logger;
-    } else {
-        
-        # Thanks to Plack, wG has been decoupled from Log4Perl
-        # However when called outside a web context, we currently still fall back to Log4perl
-        # (pending a better idea)
-        if (!$self->{_logger}) {
-            Log::Log4perl->init_once( $self->session->config->getWebguiRoot."/etc/log.conf" );   
-            my $logger = Log::Log4perl->get_logger($self->session->config->getFilename);
-            $self->{_logger} = sub {
-                my $args = shift;
-                my $level = $args->{level};
-                $logger->$level($args->{message});
-            };
-        }
-        return $self->{_logger};
-    }
-}
+sub getLogger { $_[0]->{_logger} }
 
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -349,9 +329,25 @@ An active WebGUI::Session object.
 =cut
 
 sub new {
-	my $class = shift;
-	my $session = shift;
-	bless {_queryCount=>0, _session=>$session}, $class;
+    my $class   = shift;
+    my $session = shift;
+
+    my $logger = $session->request && $session->request->logger;
+    if ( !$logger ) {
+
+        # Thanks to Plack, wG has been decoupled from Log4Perl
+        # However when called outside a web context, we currently still fall back to Log4perl
+        # (pending a better idea)
+        Log::Log4perl->init_once( $session->config->getWebguiRoot . "/etc/log.conf" );
+        my $log4perl = Log::Log4perl->get_logger( $session->config->getFilename );
+        $logger = sub {
+            my $args  = shift;
+            my $level = $args->{level};
+            $log4perl->$level( $args->{message} );
+        };
+    }
+
+    bless { _queryCount => 0, _session => $session, _logger => $logger }, $class;
 }
 
 #----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/t/Exception/app.t b/t/Exception/app.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fa2f77a91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/Exception/app.t
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+# Test what happens when the WebGUI PSGI app throws exceptions
+use strict;
+use FindBin;
+use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../../lib";
+use WebGUI;
+use Plack::Test;
+use Plack::Builder;
+use HTTP::Request::Common;
+use Test::More tests => 9;
+use HTTP::Exception;
+
+my $wg = WebGUI->new;
+
+my $regular_app = builder {
+    enable '+WebGUI::Middleware::Session', config => $wg->config;
+    $wg;
+};
+
+my $generic_dead_app = builder {
+    enable '+WebGUI::Middleware::Session', config => $wg->config;
+    
+    # Pretend that WebGUI dies during request handling
+    sub { die 'WebGUI died' }
+};
+
+my $specific_dead_app = builder {
+    enable '+WebGUI::Middleware::Session', config => $wg->config;
+    
+    # Pretend that WebGUI throws a '501 - Not Implemented' HTTP error
+    sub { HTTP::Exception::501->throw }
+};
+
+my $fatal_app = builder {
+    enable '+WebGUI::Middleware::Session', config => $wg->config;
+    
+    # Pretend that WebGUI calls $session->log->fatal during request handling
+    sub { 
+        my $env = shift;
+        
+        $env->{'webgui.session'}->log->fatal('Fatally yours');
+    }
+};
+
+test_psgi $regular_app, sub {
+    my $cb  = shift;
+    my $res = $cb->( GET "/" );
+    like $res->content, qr/My Company/;
+};
+
+# N.B. The die() is caught thanks to WebGUI::Middleware::HTTPExceptions, 
+# but generates a warning to STDOUT - should perhaps be silenced?
+test_psgi $generic_dead_app, sub {
+    my $cb  = shift;
+    my $res = $cb->( GET "/" );
+    is $res->code, 500;
+    is $res->content, 'Internal Server Error';
+};
+
+test_psgi $specific_dead_app, sub {
+    my $cb  = shift;
+    my $res = $cb->( GET "/" );
+    is $res->code, 501;
+    is $res->content, 'Not Implemented'; # how apt
+};
+
+test_psgi $fatal_app, sub {
+    my $cb  = shift;
+    my $res = $cb->( GET "/" );
+    is $res->code, 500;
+    
+    # WebGUI doesn't know who you are, so it displays the generic error page
+    like $res->content, qr/Problem With Request/;
+};
+
+test_psgi $fatal_app, sub {
+    my $cb  = shift;
+    
+    local *WebGUI::Session::ErrorHandler::canShowDebug = sub {1};
+    my $res = $cb->( GET "/" );
+    is $res->code, 500;
+    
+    # We canShowDebug, so WebGUI gives us more info
+    like $res->content, qr/Fatally yours/;
+};
+