diff --git a/src/main/java/com/uber/cadence/client/ApplicationFailureException.java b/src/main/java/com/uber/cadence/client/ApplicationFailureException.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb2c45e23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/uber/cadence/client/ApplicationFailureException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2012-2016 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ * <p>Modifications copyright (C) 2017 Uber Technologies, Inc.
+ *
+ * <p>Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use this file
+ * except in compliance with the License. A copy of the License is located at
+ *
+ * <p>http://aws.amazon.com/apache2.0
+ *
+ * <p>or in the "license" file accompanying this file. This file is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.uber.cadence.client;
+
+import com.uber.cadence.CadenceError;
+
+public final class ApplicationFailureException extends CadenceError {
+
+  public ApplicationFailureException(String message) {
+    super(message);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/uber/cadence/converter/CustomThrowableTypeAdapter.java b/src/main/java/com/uber/cadence/converter/CustomThrowableTypeAdapter.java
index 86cca6939..98ca4ca2b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/uber/cadence/converter/CustomThrowableTypeAdapter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/uber/cadence/converter/CustomThrowableTypeAdapter.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import com.google.gson.reflect.TypeToken;
 import com.google.gson.stream.JsonReader;
 import com.google.gson.stream.JsonWriter;
+import com.uber.cadence.client.ApplicationFailureException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.PrintWriter;
 import java.io.StringWriter;
@@ -137,7 +138,7 @@ public T read(JsonReader jsonReader) throws IOException {
       try {
         classType = Class.forName(className);
       } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
-        throw new IOException("Cannot deserialize " + className + " exception", e);
+        classType = ApplicationFailureException.class;
       }
       if (!Throwable.class.isAssignableFrom(classType)) {
         throw new IOException("Expected type that extends Throwable: " + className);
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/uber/cadence/converter/JsonDataConverterTest.java b/src/test/java/com/uber/cadence/converter/JsonDataConverterTest.java
index 57862ddc1..83eeccfc6 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/uber/cadence/converter/JsonDataConverterTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/uber/cadence/converter/JsonDataConverterTest.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import com.uber.cadence.WorkflowExecutionStartedEventAttributes;
 import com.uber.cadence.WorkflowType;
 import com.uber.cadence.activity.Activity;
+import com.uber.cadence.client.ApplicationFailureException;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -270,4 +271,23 @@ public void testException() {
 
     assertEquals("root exception", causeFromConverted.getSuppressed()[0].getMessage());
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testExceptionNotFound() {
+    String convertedString =
+        "{\n"
+            + "  \"detailMessage\": \"application exception\",\n"
+            + "  \"stackTrace\": \"com.uber.cadence.converter.JsonDataConverterTest.testExceptionNotFound(JsonDataConverterTest.java:282)\\nsun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)\\nsun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)\\nsun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)\\njava.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)\\norg.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:59)\\norg.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)\\norg.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:56)\\norg.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)\\norg.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:306)\\norg.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner$1.evaluate(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:100)\\norg.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:366)\\norg.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:103)\\norg.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:63)\\norg.junit.runners.ParentRunner$4.run(ParentRunner.java:331)\\norg.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:79)\\norg.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:329)\\norg.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$100(ParentRunner.java:66)\\norg.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:293)\\norg.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:306)\\norg.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:413)\\norg.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:93)\\norg.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:40)\\norg.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:520)\\norg.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:748)\\norg.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:443)\\norg.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:211)\\n\",\n"
+            + "  \"suppressedExceptions\": [],\n"
+            + "  \"class\": \"com.uber.cadence.converter.ExceptionNotFound\"\n"
+            + "}";
+    RuntimeException fromConverted =
+        converter.fromData(
+            convertedString.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8),
+            RuntimeException.class,
+            RuntimeException.class);
+    assertEquals(ApplicationFailureException.class, fromConverted.getClass());
+    assertEquals("application exception", fromConverted.getMessage());
+    assertNotSame(fromConverted.getStackTrace().length, 0);
+  }
 }