diff --git a/C4/Patroncards/Patroncard.pm b/C4/Patroncards/Patroncard.pm
index 20939768bb..23cba15005 100644
--- a/C4/Patroncards/Patroncard.pm
+++ b/C4/Patroncards/Patroncard.pm
@@ -83,8 +83,8 @@ sub draw_text {
     my ($self, $pdf, %params) = @_;
     warn sprintf('No pdf object passed in.') and return -1 if !$pdf;
     my @card_text = ();
+    return unless (ref($self->{'layout'}->{'text'}) eq 'ARRAY'); # just in case there is not text
     my $text = [@{$self->{'layout'}->{'text'}}]; # make a copy of the arrayref *not* simply a pointer
-    return unless (ref($text) eq 'ARRAY'); # just in case there is not text
     while (scalar @$text) {
         my $line = shift @$text;
         my $parse_line = $line;