diff --git a/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/core/TitanFactory.java b/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/core/TitanFactory.java
index bf90a0372a..2a3a6ae2bc 100644
--- a/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/core/TitanFactory.java
+++ b/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/core/TitanFactory.java
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ private static ReadConfiguration getLocalConfiguration(String shortcutOrFile) {
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     private static ReadConfiguration getLocalConfiguration(File file) {
         Preconditions.checkArgument(file != null && file.exists() && file.isFile() && file.canRead(),
-                "Need to specify a readable configuration file, but was given: %s", file.toString());
+                "Need to specify a readable configuration file, but was given: %s", file != null ? file.toString() : "null");
 
         try {
             PropertiesConfiguration configuration = new PropertiesConfiguration(file);
diff --git a/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/diskstorage/keycolumnvalue/SliceQuery.java b/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/diskstorage/keycolumnvalue/SliceQuery.java
index bbb9a89321..7ecb692d5f 100644
--- a/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/diskstorage/keycolumnvalue/SliceQuery.java
+++ b/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/diskstorage/keycolumnvalue/SliceQuery.java
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ public boolean equals(Object other) {
         if (this == other)
             return true;
 
-        if (other == null && !getClass().isInstance(other))
+        if (other == null || !getClass().isInstance(other))
             return false;
 
         SliceQuery oth = (SliceQuery) other;
diff --git a/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/graphdb/configuration/GraphDatabaseConfiguration.java b/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/graphdb/configuration/GraphDatabaseConfiguration.java
index a2566d46a2..195eec3ceb 100644
--- a/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/graphdb/configuration/GraphDatabaseConfiguration.java
+++ b/titan-core/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/graphdb/configuration/GraphDatabaseConfiguration.java
@@ -1153,7 +1153,7 @@ public boolean apply(@Nullable Duration sd) {
             ConfigOption.Type.MASKABLE, "unicast", new Predicate<String>() {
         @Override
         public boolean apply(@Nullable String s) {
-            return s!=null && s.equalsIgnoreCase("unicast") || s.equalsIgnoreCase("multicast");
+            return s!=null && (s.equalsIgnoreCase("unicast") || s.equalsIgnoreCase("multicast"));
         }
     });