diff --git a/content/xul/templates/src/nsXULTreeBuilder.cpp b/content/xul/templates/src/nsXULTreeBuilder.cpp
index c452dbed9d31..e24e69f2535c 100644
--- a/content/xul/templates/src/nsXULTreeBuilder.cpp
+++ b/content/xul/templates/src/nsXULTreeBuilder.cpp
@@ -1459,8 +1459,9 @@ nsXULTreeBuilder::GetTemplateActionCellFor(PRInt32 aRow,
     nsCOMPtr<nsIContent> row;
     GetTemplateActionRowFor(aRow, getter_AddRefs(row));
     if (row) {
-        PRInt32 colIndex;
-        mBoxObject->GetColumnIndex(aColID, &colIndex);
+        PRInt32 colIndex = -1;
+        if (mBoxObject)
+            mBoxObject->GetColumnIndex(aColID, &colIndex);
 
         PRInt32 count;
         row->ChildCount(count);
diff --git a/layout/xul/base/src/tree/src/nsTreeBoxObject.cpp b/layout/xul/base/src/tree/src/nsTreeBoxObject.cpp
index 88a69f272d2a..cecd9bd7c900 100644
--- a/layout/xul/base/src/tree/src/nsTreeBoxObject.cpp
+++ b/layout/xul/base/src/tree/src/nsTreeBoxObject.cpp
@@ -62,8 +62,6 @@ public:
   NS_IMETHOD Init(nsIContent* aContent, nsIPresShell* aPresShell);
   NS_IMETHOD SetDocument(nsIDocument* aDocument);
   NS_IMETHOD InvalidatePresentationStuff();
-
-  nsITreeBoxObject* mTreeBody;
 };
 
 /* Implementation file */
@@ -84,8 +82,6 @@ nsTreeBoxObject::SetDocument(nsIDocument* aDocument)
   if (treeView)
     treeView->SetTree(nsnull); // Break the circular ref between the view and us.
 
-  mTreeBody = nsnull;
-
   return nsBoxObject::SetDocument(aDocument);
 }
 
@@ -100,7 +96,6 @@ nsTreeBoxObject::InvalidatePresentationStuff()
 }
   
 nsTreeBoxObject::nsTreeBoxObject()
-:mTreeBody(nsnull)
 {
   NS_INIT_ISUPPORTS();
 }
diff --git a/layout/xul/base/src/tree/src/nsTreeContentView.cpp b/layout/xul/base/src/tree/src/nsTreeContentView.cpp
index d5e103bad6ea..a2cc9a2395a4 100644
--- a/layout/xul/base/src/tree/src/nsTreeContentView.cpp
+++ b/layout/xul/base/src/tree/src/nsTreeContentView.cpp
@@ -1563,8 +1563,9 @@ nsTreeContentView::UpdateParentIndexes(PRInt32 aIndex, PRInt32 aSkip, PRInt32 aC
 nsresult
 nsTreeContentView::GetNamedCell(nsIContent* aContainer, const PRUnichar* aColID, nsIContent** aResult)
 {
-  PRInt32 colIndex;
-  mBoxObject->GetColumnIndex(aColID, &colIndex);
+  PRInt32 colIndex = -1;
+  if (mBoxObject)
+    mBoxObject->GetColumnIndex(aColID, &colIndex);
 
   // Traverse through cells, try to find the cell by "ref" attribute or by cell
   // index in a row. "ref" attribute has higher priority.