diff --git a/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.1.ddl.aql b/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.1.ddl.aql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.1.ddl.aql
diff --git a/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.2.update.aql b/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.2.update.aql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.2.update.aql
diff --git a/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.3.query.aql b/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.3.query.aql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4da91be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.3.query.aql
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+/*
+ * Description  : This test case is to verify the fix for issue442
+ 				: https://code.google.com/p/asterixdb/issues/detail?id=442
+ * Expected Res : Fail
+ * Date         : 22th May 2013
+ */
+
+for $a in [ {"f" : 100} ,  {"f" : 0},  {"f" : -1}, {"f" : null}, {"f" : 999999}, {"f" : 1} , {"f" : "zzzzz"}]
+order by $a.f desc
+return $a
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.1.adm b/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.1.adm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e34c554
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/open-closed/query-issue442/query-issue442.1.adm
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{ "f": "zzzzz" }
+{ "f": 999999 }
+{ "f": 100 }
+{ "f": 1 }
+{ "f": 0 }
+{ "f": -1 }
+{ "f": null }
diff --git a/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite.xml b/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite.xml
index 956c76d..599c1ca 100644
--- a/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite.xml
+++ b/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite.xml
@@ -2805,6 +2805,12 @@
         <output-dir compare="Text">query-issue258</output-dir>
       </compilation-unit>
     </test-case>
+    <test-case FilePath="open-closed">
+      <compilation-unit name="query-issue442">
+        <output-dir compare="Text">query-issue442</output-dir>
+        <expected-error>edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.exceptions.AsterixException</expected-error>
+      </compilation-unit>
+    </test-case>
   </test-group>
   <test-group name="quantifiers">
     <test-case FilePath="quantifiers">
diff --git a/asterix-om/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/dataflow/data/nontagged/comparators/AObjectAscBinaryComparatorFactory.java b/asterix-om/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/dataflow/data/nontagged/comparators/AObjectAscBinaryComparatorFactory.java
index 865ab94..f795b17 100644
--- a/asterix-om/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/dataflow/data/nontagged/comparators/AObjectAscBinaryComparatorFactory.java
+++ b/asterix-om/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/dataflow/data/nontagged/comparators/AObjectAscBinaryComparatorFactory.java
@@ -62,8 +62,13 @@
                         return 1;
                 }
 
-                ATypeTag tag = EnumDeserializer.ATYPETAGDESERIALIZER.deserialize(b1[s1]);
-                switch (tag) {
+                ATypeTag tag1 = EnumDeserializer.ATYPETAGDESERIALIZER.deserialize(b1[s1]);
+                ATypeTag tag2 = EnumDeserializer.ATYPETAGDESERIALIZER.deserialize(b2[s2]);
+                if (tag1 != tag2) {
+                    throw new IllegalStateException("The values of two inconsistent types (" + tag1 + " and " + tag2
+                            + ") cannot be compared!");
+                }
+                switch (tag1) {
                     case BOOLEAN: {
                         return ascBoolComp.compare(b1, s1 + 1, l1 - 1, b2, s2 + 1, l2 - 1);
                     }