diff --git a/tests/unit/proxy/test_proxy_server_endpoints_and_startup.py b/tests/unit/proxy/test_proxy_server_endpoints_and_startup.py
index 703fa7eb1d8..256bdbb3db6 100644
--- a/tests/unit/proxy/test_proxy_server_endpoints_and_startup.py
+++ b/tests/unit/proxy/test_proxy_server_endpoints_and_startup.py
@@ -1253,6 +1253,53 @@ async def test_initialize_scheduled_jobs_normalizes_string_general_settings(monk
     mock_proxy_config.init_mcp_servers_from_db.assert_not_called()
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_initialize_scheduled_jobs_ignores_malformed_string_general_settings(monkeypatch):
+    """
+    A string-valued general_settings row that is not valid JSON must be treated
+    as empty, leaving store_model_in_db off, instead of failing the lookup.
+    """
+    import types
+
+    monkeypatch.delenv("DISABLE_PRISMA_SCHEMA_UPDATE", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delenv("STORE_MODEL_IN_DB", raising=False)
+    from litellm.proxy.proxy_server import ProxyStartupEvent
+    from litellm.proxy.utils import ProxyLogging
+
+    record = types.SimpleNamespace(param_value="{not json")
+    find_first = AsyncMock(return_value=record)
+
+    mock_prisma_client = MagicMock()
+    mock_prisma_client.db.litellm_config.find_first = find_first
+    mock_prisma_client.attempt_db_reconnect = AsyncMock(return_value=True)
+
+    mock_proxy_logging = MagicMock(spec=ProxyLogging)
+    mock_proxy_logging.slack_alerting_instance = MagicMock()
+    mock_proxy_logging.db_spend_update_writer = MagicMock()
+    mock_proxy_config = _mock_scheduled_proxy_config()
+
+    with (
+        patch("litellm.proxy.proxy_server.proxy_config", mock_proxy_config),
+        patch("litellm.proxy.proxy_server.store_model_in_db", False),
+        patch("litellm.proxy.proxy_server.verbose_proxy_logger") as mock_logger,
+    ):
+        await ProxyStartupEvent.initialize_scheduled_background_jobs(
+            general_settings={},
+            prisma_client=mock_prisma_client,
+            proxy_budget_rescheduler_min_time=1,
+            proxy_budget_rescheduler_max_time=2,
+            proxy_batch_write_at=5,
+            proxy_logging_obj=mock_proxy_logging,
+        )
+
+    assert find_first.await_count == 1
+    assert not any(
+        "Failed to check DB for store_model_in_db" in str(call.args[0]) for call in mock_logger.debug.call_args_list
+    )
+    mock_proxy_config.add_deployment.assert_not_called()
+    mock_proxy_config.init_mcp_servers_from_db.assert_awaited_once()
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_init_mcp_servers_from_db_respects_supported_db_objects(monkeypatch):
     """