diff --git a/googleapiclient/http.py b/googleapiclient/http.py
index 7992ea3..eb46449 100644
--- a/googleapiclient/http.py
+++ b/googleapiclient/http.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@
 
   Args:
     resp_status: The response status received.
-    content: The response content body. 
+    content: The response content body.
 
   Returns:
     True if the response should be retried, otherwise False.
@@ -112,7 +112,10 @@
     # Content is in JSON format.
     try:
       data = json.loads(content.decode('utf-8'))
-      reason = data['error']['errors'][0]['reason']
+      if isinstance(data, dict):
+        reason = data['error']['errors'][0]['reason']
+      else:
+        reason = data[0]['error']['errors']['reason']
     except (UnicodeDecodeError, ValueError, KeyError):
       LOGGER.warning('Invalid JSON content from response: %s', content)
       return False
@@ -510,7 +513,6 @@
   Construct a MediaFileUpload and pass as the media_body parameter of the
   method. For example, if we had a service that allowed uploading images:
 
-
     media = MediaFileUpload('cow.png', mimetype='image/png',
       chunksize=1024*1024, resumable=True)
     farm.animals().insert(