diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index a4bc58c..3cebfe3 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
    <inceptionYear>2012</inceptionYear>
    <groupId>com.github.raychatter</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-restful-exception-handler</artifactId>
-   <version>1.1.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+   <version>2.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>
 
    <properties>
@@ -67,11 +67,6 @@
            <version>1.9.0</version> 
            <scope>test</scope> 
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-           <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
-           <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
-           <version>3.1</version>
-        </dependency>
      </dependencies>
 
        <build>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/raychatter/AnnotationHandler.java b/src/main/java/com/github/raychatter/AnnotationHandler.java
index 365cb6d..1895922 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/raychatter/AnnotationHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/raychatter/AnnotationHandler.java
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ public class AnnotationHandler implements HandlerExceptionResolver {
    protected static final String USER_TEMPLATE = "error.template";
    protected static final String DEFAULT_TEMPLATE = "defaults/default.template";
    private static final String UTF_8 = "UTF-8";
+   private static final String DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE = MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE;
+   private static final int DEFAULT_STATUS_CODE = HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR.value();
    private boolean useHandledExceptionMessage = true; //use the message from the annotated exception
    private boolean useGetCause = true;
 
@@ -34,8 +36,6 @@ public class AnnotationHandler implements HandlerExceptionResolver {
       final Exception handledException = getHandledException(thrownException);
       final ExceptionHandler annotation = getAnnotationFrom(handledException);
       final Exception messageException = getMessageException(thrownException, handledException);
-//      final StackTraceElement[] testStacktrace =  handledException.getStackTrace();
-//      final List<Throwable> throwableList = ExceptionUtils.getThrowableList(thrownException);
 
       try {
          if (annotation == null) {
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ public class AnnotationHandler implements HandlerExceptionResolver {
 
    protected Exception getHandledException(final Exception thrownException) {
       if(useGetCause) {
-         return getAnnotatedException(thrownException, thrownException.getCause());
+         return getAnnotatedException(thrownException);
       }
       return thrownException;
    }
@@ -82,18 +82,19 @@ public class AnnotationHandler implements HandlerExceptionResolver {
    }
 
    protected ModelAndView respondWithDefault(final Exception handledException, final HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException {
-      response.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_VALUE);
-      response.setStatus(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR.value());
+      response.setContentType(DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE);
+      response.setStatus(DEFAULT_STATUS_CODE);
       response.getWriter().write(formatDefaultMessage(handledException));
 
       return new ModelAndView();
    }
 
-   protected Exception getAnnotatedException(Exception exception, Throwable causedException) {
+   protected Exception getAnnotatedException(Exception exception) {
+      Throwable causedException = exception.getCause();
       if(getAnnotationFrom(exception) != null || causedException == null) {
          return exception;
       } else {
-         return getAnnotatedException((Exception) causedException, causedException.getCause());
+         return getAnnotatedException((Exception) causedException);
       }
    }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/github/raychatter/AnnotationHandlerTest.java b/src/test/java/com/github/raychatter/AnnotationHandlerTest.java
index 567eccd..9a9ab21 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/github/raychatter/AnnotationHandlerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/github/raychatter/AnnotationHandlerTest.java
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ public class AnnotationHandlerTest {
       when(mockResponse.getWriter()).thenReturn(mockPrinter);
 
       final AnnotationHandler sut = spy(new AnnotationHandler());
-      when(sut.getAnnotatedException(expectedException, expectedException.getCause())).thenReturn(expectedException);
+      when(sut.getAnnotatedException(expectedException)).thenReturn(expectedException);
       when(sut.getAnnotationFrom(expectedException)).thenReturn(null);
 
       final ModelAndView view = sut.resolveException(null, mockResponse, null, expectedException);
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ public class AnnotationHandlerTest {
 
       final ModelAndView view = sut.resolveException(null, mockResponse, null, mockException);
 
-      Assert.assertTrue(sut.getAnnotatedException(mockException,mockException.getCause()) instanceof TestExceptionWithNoAnnotationAttributes);
+      Assert.assertTrue(sut.getAnnotatedException(mockException) instanceof TestExceptionWithNoAnnotationAttributes);
    }
 
    @Test public void getHandledException_ShouldReturnThrownException_WhenThereAreCheckedExceptionsChainedAndGetCauseIsFalse() throws Exception {
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ public class AnnotationHandlerTest {
 
       final ModelAndView view = sut.resolveException(null, mockResponse, null, mockException);
 
-      Assert.assertTrue(sut.getAnnotatedException(mockException,mockException.getCause()) instanceof TestExceptionWithNoAnnotationAttributes);
+      Assert.assertTrue(sut.getAnnotatedException(mockException) instanceof TestExceptionWithNoAnnotationAttributes);
    }
 
    @Test public void getHandledException_ShouldReturnFirstChainedAnnotatedException_WhenThrownExceptionIsUnannotatedAndGetCauseIsTrue() throws Exception {