diff --git a/src/lib/requests.ts b/src/lib/requests.ts
index a1ed032549659b83c0d52ddb367c43550059c222..cfb3c8b3c8b053aacd6a7114d253684287e93696 100644
--- a/src/lib/requests.ts
+++ b/src/lib/requests.ts
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ export function defaultFetch(url: string, options = {}) {
   return fetch(url, options).then(r => {
     if (!r.ok) {
       const error = new Error(
-        `An error ${r.status} occurred while fetching data`
+        `An error ${r.status} occurred while fetching data`,
+        { cause: r.statusText }
       );
-      error.cause = r.statusText;
       throw error;
     }
     return r.json();