diff --git a/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigValueTest.scala b/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigValueTest.scala
index 50add6786..3604e6a27 100644
--- a/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigValueTest.scala
+++ b/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigValueTest.scala
@@ -280,13 +280,13 @@ class ConfigValueTest extends TestUtils {
     }
 
     /**
-      * Reproduces the issue <a href=https://github.com/typesafehub/config/issues/461>#461</a>.
-      * <p>
-      * We use a custom de-/serializer that encodes String objects in a JDK-incompatible way. Encoding used here 
-      * is rather simplistic: a long indicating the length in bytes (JDK uses a variable length integer) followed
-      * by the string's bytes. Running this test with the original SerializedConfigValue.readExternal() 
-      * implementation results in an EOFException thrown during deserialization.
-      */
+     * Reproduces the issue <a href=https://github.com/typesafehub/config/issues/461>#461</a>.
+     * <p>
+     * We use a custom de-/serializer that encodes String objects in a JDK-incompatible way. Encoding used here
+     * is rather simplistic: a long indicating the length in bytes (JDK uses a variable length integer) followed
+     * by the string's bytes. Running this test with the original SerializedConfigValue.readExternal()
+     * implementation results in an EOFException thrown during deserialization.
+     */
     @Test
     def configConfigCustomSerializable() {
         val aMap = configMap("a" -> 1, "b" -> 2, "c" -> 3)
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ class ConfigValueTest extends TestUtils {
 
         assertEquals(expected, actual)
     }
-    
+
     @Test
     def configListEquality() {
         val aScalaSeq = Seq(1, 2, 3) map { intValue(_): AbstractConfigValue }
diff --git a/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/TestUtils.scala b/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/TestUtils.scala
index 13ccd1600..24e6a07e6 100644
--- a/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/TestUtils.scala
+++ b/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/TestUtils.scala
@@ -74,8 +74,8 @@ abstract trait TestUtils {
     private object notEqualToAnything extends NotEqualToAnythingElse
 
     private def checkNotEqualToRandomOtherThing(a: Any) {
-        assertFalse(a.equals(notEqualToAnything))
-        assertFalse(notEqualToAnything.equals(a))
+        assertFalse("not any", a.equals(notEqualToAnything))
+        assertFalse("any not", notEqualToAnything.equals(a))
     }
 
     protected def checkNotEqualObjects(a: Any, b: Any) {
@@ -92,9 +92,9 @@ abstract trait TestUtils {
     }
 
     protected def checkEqualObjects(a: Any, b: Any) {
-        assertTrue(a.equals(b))
-        assertTrue(b.equals(a))
-        assertTrue(a.hashCode() == b.hashCode())
+        assertTrue("a equals b", a.equals(b))
+        assertTrue("b equals a", b.equals(a))
+        assertTrue("a.hashCode equals b.hashCode", a.hashCode() == b.hashCode())
         checkNotEqualToRandomOtherThing(a)
         checkNotEqualToRandomOtherThing(b)
     }
diff --git a/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ValidationTest.scala b/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ValidationTest.scala
index 6dce7bfee..5e45aad61 100644
--- a/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ValidationTest.scala
+++ b/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ValidationTest.scala
@@ -97,6 +97,21 @@ class ValidationTest extends TestUtils {
         checkValidationException(e, expecteds)
     }
 
+    @Test
+    def validationFailedSerializable(): Unit = {
+        // Reusing a previous test case to generate an error
+        val reference = parseConfig("""{ a : [{},{},{}] }""")
+        val conf = parseConfig("""{ a : 42 }""")
+        val e = intercept[ConfigException.ValidationFailed] {
+            conf.checkValid(reference)
+        }
+
+        val expecteds = Seq(WrongType("a", 1, "list", "number"))
+
+        val actual = checkSerializableNoMeaningfulEquals(e)
+        checkValidationException(actual, expecteds)
+    }
+
     @Test
     def validationAllowsListOverriddenWithSameTypeList() {
         val reference = parseConfig("""{ a : [1,2,3] }""")