diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8cddd6a..0920350 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/)
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
+## 0.3.1: 2017-07-04
+
+### Fixed
+
+* **NPE**: when `use` trait is temporarily empty (`use <caret>;`);
+
 ## 0.3.0: [Trigon Release](https://github.com/rentalhost/laravel-insight/releases/tag/0.3.0) - 2017-06-22
 
 ### Added
@@ -31,7 +37,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
 * **NPE**: when class name identifier is absent (eg. `class {}`);
 
-## 0.1.1 - 2017-06-01
+## 0.1.1: 2017-06-01
 
 ### Changed
 
diff --git a/resources-tests/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspection.npe.php b/resources-tests/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspection.npe.php
index 5f19903..d72d690 100644
--- a/resources-tests/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspection.npe.php
+++ b/resources-tests/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspection.npe.php
@@ -9,3 +9,7 @@ class BaseModel extends Model {
 
 class ShouldBeRemovedProgramatically extends BaseModel {
 }
+
+trait CCNullTargetReference {
+    use CCWillBeRemoved;
+}
diff --git a/src/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspection.java b/src/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspection.java
index da2c2c0..a055b1f 100644
--- a/src/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspection.java
+++ b/src/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspection.java
@@ -214,7 +214,10 @@ else if (isCastProperty && !element.isIndexed()) {
             public void visitPhpUse(@NotNull final PhpUse expression) {
                 if (expression.isTraitImport()) {
                     final PhpReference traitReferenceClass = expression.getTargetReference();
-                    assert traitReferenceClass != null;
+
+                    if (traitReferenceClass == null) {
+                        return;
+                    }
 
                     final PhpClass traitContainingClass = PhpClassUtil.getTraitContainingClass(expression);
                     assert traitContainingClass != null;
diff --git a/tests/idea/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspectionTest.java b/tests/idea/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspectionTest.java
index 2212f7d..61cc354 100644
--- a/tests/idea/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspectionTest.java
+++ b/tests/idea/laravelInsight/eloquent/ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspectionTest.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import com.intellij.psi.PsiFile;
 import com.jetbrains.php.lang.psi.elements.PhpClass;
 import com.jetbrains.php.lang.psi.elements.PhpClassMember;
+import com.jetbrains.php.lang.psi.elements.PhpUse;
 
 import net.rentalhost.suite.FixtureSuite;
 
@@ -42,5 +43,11 @@ public void testNPEs() {
 
         inspectTool(ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspection.class)
             .runVisitor(visitor -> visitor.visitPhpClass(fieldPrimaryKey.getContainingClass()));
+
+        final PhpUse ccWillBeRemoved = (PhpUse) getElementByName(fileSample, "CCWillBeRemoved");
+        runWriteAction(() -> ccWillBeRemoved.getChildren()[0].delete());
+
+        inspectTool(ColumnWithoutAnnotationInspection.class)
+            .runVisitor(visitor -> visitor.visitPhpUse(ccWillBeRemoved));
     }
 }