diff --git a/api/handler/delete.go b/api/handler/delete.go
index 1de3833a..f67d0213 100644
--- a/api/handler/delete.go
+++ b/api/handler/delete.go
@@ -278,6 +278,7 @@ func (h *handler) DeleteBucketHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		SessionToken: sessionToken,
 	}); err != nil {
 		h.logAndSendError(w, "couldn't delete bucket", reqInfo, err)
+		return
 	}
 
 	chainIDs := []chain.ID{