diff --git a/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/ProtocolHandshake.java b/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/ProtocolHandshake.java
index 019e8a98008d4..b5ec4172d99b8 100644
--- a/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/ProtocolHandshake.java
+++ b/java/client/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/ProtocolHandshake.java
@@ -314,11 +314,32 @@ private Optional<Result> createSession(HttpClient client, InputStream newSession
       jsonBlob = new HashMap<>();
     }
 
-    // If the result looks positive, return the result.
-    Object sessionId = jsonBlob.get("sessionId");
     Object value = jsonBlob.get("value");
     Object w3cError = jsonBlob.get("error");
     Object ossStatus = jsonBlob.get("status");
+
+    // If the result was an error that we believe has to do with the remote end failing to start the
+    // session, create an exception and throw it.
+    Response tempResponse = null;
+    if (response.getStatus() != HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
+      tempResponse = new Response(null);
+      tempResponse.setStatus(ErrorCodes.SESSION_NOT_CREATED);
+      tempResponse.setValue(value);
+    } else if ("session not created".equals(w3cError)) {
+      tempResponse = new Response(null);
+      tempResponse.setStatus(ErrorCodes.SESSION_NOT_CREATED);
+      tempResponse.setValue(value);
+    } else if (ossStatus instanceof Number && ((Number) ossStatus).intValue() != 0) {
+      tempResponse = new Response(null);
+      tempResponse.setStatus(ErrorCodes.SESSION_NOT_CREATED);
+      tempResponse.setValue(value);
+    }
+
+    if (tempResponse != null) {
+      new ErrorHandler().throwIfResponseFailed(tempResponse, 0);
+    }
+
+    Object sessionId = jsonBlob.get("sessionId");
     Map<String, ?> capabilities = null;
 
     // The old geckodriver prior to 0.14 returned "value" as the thing containing the session id.
@@ -342,29 +363,10 @@ private Optional<Result> createSession(HttpClient client, InputStream newSession
       capabilities = ((Capabilities) capabilities).asMap();
     }
 
-    if (response.getStatus() == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
-      if (sessionId != null && capabilities != null) {
-        Dialect dialect = ossStatus == null ? Dialect.W3C : Dialect.OSS;
-        return Optional.of(
-          new Result(dialect, String.valueOf(sessionId), capabilities));
-      }
-    }
-
-    // If the result was an error that we believe has to do with the remote end failing to start the
-    // session, create an exception and throw it.
-    Response tempResponse = null;
-    if ("session not created".equals(w3cError)) {
-      tempResponse = new Response(null);
-      tempResponse.setStatus(ErrorCodes.SESSION_NOT_CREATED);
-      tempResponse.setValue(jsonBlob);
-    } else if (ossStatus instanceof Number) {
-      tempResponse = new Response(null);
-      tempResponse.setStatus(ErrorCodes.SESSION_NOT_CREATED);
-      tempResponse.setValue(jsonBlob);
-    }
-
-    if (tempResponse != null) {
-      new ErrorHandler().throwIfResponseFailed(tempResponse, 0);
+    // If the result looks positive, return the result.
+    if (sessionId != null && capabilities != null) {
+      Dialect dialect = ossStatus == null ? Dialect.W3C : Dialect.OSS;
+      return Optional.of(new Result(dialect, String.valueOf(sessionId), capabilities));
     }
 
     // Otherwise, just return empty.