diff --git a/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/OldTextPiece.java b/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/OldTextPiece.java
index c82635bc3..87cccfa76 100644
--- a/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/OldTextPiece.java
+++ b/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/OldTextPiece.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 package org.apache.poi.hwpf.model;
 
 
+import org.apache.poi.util.CodePageUtil;
 import org.apache.poi.util.Internal;
 import org.apache.poi.util.NotImplemented;
 
@@ -40,11 +41,19 @@ public class OldTextPiece extends TextPiece {
     public OldTextPiece(int start, int end, byte[] text, PieceDescriptor pd) {
         super(start, end, text, pd);
         this.rawBytes = text;
-        if (end < start) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("Told we're of negative size! start=" + start + " end=" + end);
-        }
     }
 
+    @Override
+    protected void validateLengths(int start, int end, int length, PieceDescriptor pd) {
+        //things are still wonky with Big5 char/byte length mapping
+        //sometimes working w/ Java 8 but not w/ Java 7!
+        //for now, if we're dealing w/ Big5 don't bother checking
+        if (pd.getCharset() != null &&
+                CodePageUtil.VARIABLE_BYTE_CHARSETS.contains(pd.getCharset())) {
+            return;
+        }
+        super.validateLengths(start, end, length, pd);
+    }
     /**
      * @return nothing, ever. Always throws an UnsupportedOperationException
      * @throws UnsupportedOperationException
@@ -56,6 +65,7 @@ public class OldTextPiece extends TextPiece {
     }
 
 
+    @Override
     public StringBuilder getStringBuilder() {
         return (StringBuilder) _buf;
     }
diff --git a/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/TextPiece.java b/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/TextPiece.java
index 2a63bda16..b383cbcfb 100644
--- a/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/TextPiece.java
+++ b/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/TextPiece.java
@@ -60,14 +60,17 @@ public class TextPiece extends PropertyNode<TextPiece> {
 
         // Validate
         int textLength = ((CharSequence) _buf).length();
-        if (end - start != textLength) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("Told we're for characters " + start + " -> " + end + ", but actually covers " + textLength + " characters!");
-        }
+        validateLengths(start, end, textLength, pd);
         if (end < start) {
             throw new IllegalStateException("Told we're of negative size! start=" + start + " end=" + end);
         }
     }
 
+    protected void validateLengths(int start, int end, int textLength, PieceDescriptor pd) {
+        if (end - start != textLength) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Told we're for characters " + start + " -> " + end + ", but actually covers " + textLength + " characters!");
+        }
+    }
     /**
      * Create the StringBuilder from the text and unicode flag
      */
diff --git a/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/TestHWPFOldDocument.java b/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/TestHWPFOldDocument.java
index bfe22605a..bf355959a 100644
--- a/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/TestHWPFOldDocument.java
+++ b/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/usermodel/TestHWPFOldDocument.java
@@ -226,6 +226,26 @@ public final class TestHWPFOldDocument extends HWPFTestCase {
         assertContains(txt, "also maintain");//this is at a critical juncture
         assertContains(txt, "which are available for");//this too
 
+        /*
+            The bytes for the following test:
+            170 : 78 : x
+            171 : 0 :
+            172 : d : <r>
+            173 : 35 : 5
+            174 : 39 : 9
+            175 : 0 :
+            176 : 2d : -
+            177 : 0 :
+            178 : 35 : 5
+            179 : 0 :
+            180 : 35 : 5
+
+            Note that we are skipping over the value "5" at offset 173.
+            This is an apparently invalid sequence in MS's encoding scheme
+
+            When I open the document in MSWord, I also see "\r9-55"
+        */
+        assertContains(txt, "\n9-55 xxxxx block5");
         //TODO: figure out why these two aren't passing
 //        assertContains(txt, "\u2019\u0078 block2");//make sure smart quote is extracted correctly
 //        assertContains(txt, "We are able to");//not sure if we can get this easily?