diff --git a/redaction-service-v1/redaction-service-server-v1/src/main/java/com/iqser/red/service/redaction/v1/server/layoutparsing/document/graph/nodes/Image.java b/redaction-service-v1/redaction-service-server-v1/src/main/java/com/iqser/red/service/redaction/v1/server/layoutparsing/document/graph/nodes/Image.java
index 505c1a15..d9fad9e0 100644
--- a/redaction-service-v1/redaction-service-server-v1/src/main/java/com/iqser/red/service/redaction/v1/server/layoutparsing/document/graph/nodes/Image.java
+++ b/redaction-service-v1/redaction-service-server-v1/src/main/java/com/iqser/red/service/redaction/v1/server/layoutparsing/document/graph/nodes/Image.java
@@ -118,6 +118,9 @@ public class Image implements GenericSemanticNode {
 
     public MatchedRule getMatchedRule() {
 
+        if (matchedRuleList.isEmpty()) {
+            return MatchedRule.empty();
+        }
         return matchedRuleList.peek();
     }