diff --git a/app/models/signed_retraction.rb b/app/models/signed_retraction.rb
index d2aa2e1545859cd18b49a90d16cd81a82eb5a81c..44fdd7ba70a56f93da77765136e6c0ca2c486a4e 100644
--- a/app/models/signed_retraction.rb
+++ b/app/models/signed_retraction.rb
@@ -18,8 +18,13 @@ class SignedRetraction
                 :target_author_signature,
                 :sender
 
+  #NOTE(fix this hack -- go through the app and make sure we only call RelayableRetraction in a unified way)
   def author
-    sender.person
+    if sender.is_a?(User)
+      sender.person
+    else
+      sender
+    end
   end
 
   def signable_accessors