diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 83acf0ac1c8..1485f517164 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -3050,28 +3050,29 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: Run Docker container with bad DATABASE_URL
           command: |
+            set +e
             docker run --name my-app \
               -p 4000:4000 \
               -e LITELLM_DANGEROUSLY_PERMIT_WEAK_OR_UNSET_MASTER_KEY=true \
               -e DEFAULT_NUM_WORKERS_LITELLM_PROXY=1 \
               -e DATABASE_URL="postgresql://wrong:wrong@wrong:5432/wrong" \
               myapp:latest \
-              --port 4000 > docker_output.log 2>&1 || true
+              --port 4000 > docker_output.log 2>&1
+            echo "$?" > docker_exit_code
+            set -e
       - run:
           name: Display Docker logs
           command: cat docker_output.log
       - run:
-          name: Check for expected error
+          name: Proxy must refuse to serve on an unreachable database
           command: |
-            if grep -q "Error: P1001: Can't reach database server at" docker_output.log && \
-               (grep -q "Database setup failed after multiple retries" docker_output.log || \
-                grep -q "ERROR:    Application startup failed. Exiting." docker_output.log); then
-              echo "Expected error found. Test passed."
-            else
-              echo "Expected error not found. Test failed."
-              cat docker_output.log
-              exit 1
-            fi
+            fail() { echo "FAILED: $1"; cat docker_output.log; exit 1; }
+            exit_code="$(cat docker_exit_code)"
+            [ "$exit_code" -ne 0 ] || fail "proxy exited 0 with an unreachable database"
+            grep -q "P1001" docker_output.log || fail "log does not name the unreachable database server"
+            ! grep -q "Application startup complete" docker_output.log || fail "proxy reached serving state"
+            ! docker exec my-app true 2>/dev/null || fail "container is still running"
+            echo "Proxy refused to serve (exit $exit_code) and never reached startup. Test passed."
 
   provider_replay_harness:
     docker:
diff --git a/tests/otel_tests/test_e2e_budgeting.py b/tests/otel_tests/test_e2e_budgeting.py
index ca5058818e4..ae8f0ddc3ec 100644
--- a/tests/otel_tests/test_e2e_budgeting.py
+++ b/tests/otel_tests/test_e2e_budgeting.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import uuid
 from typing import Any, Optional
 
 import aiohttp
+import openai
 import pytest
 from httpx import AsyncClient
 
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ async def make_calls_until_budget_exceeded(session, key: str, call_function, **k
             call_count += 1
             await asyncio.sleep(0.1)  # allow spend tracking to catch up
         pytest.fail(f"Budget was not exceeded after {MAX_CALLS} calls")
-    except Exception as e:
+    except openai.APIStatusError as e:
         print("vars: ", vars(e))
         print("e.body: ", e.body)
 
@@ -32,8 +33,8 @@ async def make_calls_until_budget_exceeded(session, key: str, call_function, **k
 
         # Check error structure and values that should be consistent
         assert (
-            error_dict["code"] == "429"
-        ), f"Expected error code 429, got: {error_dict['code']}"
+            error_dict["code"] == "422"
+        ), f"Expected error code 422, got: {error_dict['code']}"
         assert (
             error_dict["type"] == "budget_exceeded"
         ), f"Expected error type budget_exceeded, got: {error_dict['type']}"
@@ -506,9 +507,9 @@ async def make_calls_until_team_budget_exceeded_cli_sso(
             call_count += 1
             await asyncio.sleep(0.1)
         pytest.fail(f"Budget was not exceeded after {MAX_CALLS} calls")
-    except Exception as e:
+    except openai.APIStatusError as e:
         error_dict = e.body
-        assert error_dict["code"] == "429"
+        assert error_dict["code"] == "422"
         assert error_dict["type"] == "budget_exceeded"
         message = error_dict["message"]
         assert "Budget has been exceeded!" in message
@@ -556,7 +557,7 @@ async def test_team_budget_enforcement_cli_sso_token():
     1. Create team with a tiny max_budget and a user on that team
     2. Obtain a CLI SSO JWT (HTTP poll flow when Redis is shared, else mint)
     3. Make chat completion calls until the team budget is exceeded
-    4. Verify HTTP 429 budget_exceeded names the team
+    4. Verify HTTP 422 budget_exceeded names the team
     """
     user_id = f"cli-budget-user-{uuid.uuid4().hex[:8]}"
     user_email = f"{user_id}@example.com"