diff --git a/testrunner/errors.py b/testrunner/errors.py
index 6d606ec..e240899 100755
--- a/testrunner/errors.py
+++ b/testrunner/errors.py
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@
   """Generic exception that indicates a fatal error has occurred and program
   execution should be aborted."""
 
+  def __init__(self, msg="AbortError"):
+    self.msg = msg
+
 
 class ParseError(Exception):
   """Raised when xml data to parse has unrecognized format."""