diff --git a/HariSekhon/Cassandra/Nodetool.pm b/HariSekhon/Cassandra/Nodetool.pm
index a40f39c0..f9413263 100644
--- a/HariSekhon/Cassandra/Nodetool.pm
+++ b/HariSekhon/Cassandra/Nodetool.pm
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ our @EXPORT = ( qw (
                         die_nodetool_unrecognized_output
                         nodetool_options
                         skip_nodetool_output
+			            skip_connection_refused
                         validate_nodetool
                         validate_nodetool_options
                 )
@@ -93,10 +94,9 @@ our $nodetool_errors_regex = qr/
                                 You\s+must\s+set |
                                 Cannot\s+resolve |
                                 unknown\s+host   |
-                                connection\s+refused  |
                                 failed\s+to\s+connect |
-                                error |
-                                user  |
+                                error    |
+                                user     |
                                 password |
                                 Exception(?!s\s*:\s*\d+) |
                                 in thread
@@ -105,7 +105,11 @@ our $nodetool_errors_regex = qr/
 sub check_nodetool_errors($){
     @_ or code_error "no input passed to check_nodetool_errors()";
     my $str = join(" ", @_);
-    quit "CRITICAL", $str if $str =~ /$nodetool_errors_regex/;
+    if(skip_connection_refused($str)) {
+         return 1;
+    }else{
+         quit "CRITICAL", $str if $str =~ /$nodetool_errors_regex/;
+    }
 }
 
 sub skip_nodetool_output($){
@@ -118,6 +122,15 @@ sub skip_nodetool_output($){
     return 0;
 }
 
+sub skip_connection_refused($){
+	@_ or code_error "no input passed to skip_nodetool_output()";
+    	my $str = join(" ", @_);
+	if($str =~ /connection\s+refused/i) {
+		return 1;
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
 # Cassandra 2.0 DataStax Community Edition (nodetool version gives 'ReleaseVersion: 2.0.2')
 our $nodetool_status_header_regex = qr/
                                        ^Note |
@@ -133,4 +146,4 @@ sub die_nodetool_unrecognized_output($){
     quit "UNKNOWN", sprintf("unrecognized output '%s', nodetool output format may have changed, aborting, $nagios_plugins_support_msg", $str);
 }
 
-1;
+1;
\ No newline at end of file