diff --git a/litellm/passthrough/main.py b/litellm/passthrough/main.py
index a3d238e78a3..885b145645c 100644
--- a/litellm/passthrough/main.py
+++ b/litellm/passthrough/main.py
@@ -384,7 +384,8 @@ def classification_passthrough_request(
         client=client,
         timeout=timeout,
     )
-    assert isinstance(response, httpx.Response)
+    if not isinstance(response, httpx.Response):
+        raise TypeError(f"Expected httpx.Response from classify passthrough, got {type(response).__name__}")
     return response
 
 
@@ -411,7 +412,8 @@ async def aclassification_passthrough_request(
         client=client,
         timeout=timeout,
     )
-    assert isinstance(response, httpx.Response)
+    if not isinstance(response, httpx.Response):
+        raise TypeError(f"Expected httpx.Response from classify passthrough, got {type(response).__name__}")
     return response
 
 
diff --git a/litellm/types/classification.py b/litellm/types/classification.py
index f93fb2e1de5..397fa1a0fd9 100644
--- a/litellm/types/classification.py
+++ b/litellm/types/classification.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ class ClassificationData(BaseModel):
     model_config = ConfigDict(extra="allow")
 
     index: int
-    label: str | None
+    label: str | None = None
     probs: list[float]
     num_classes: int
 
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/passthrough/test_classify.py b/tests/test_litellm/passthrough/test_classify.py
index eaebd9efd67..e9798a4053e 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/passthrough/test_classify.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/passthrough/test_classify.py
@@ -69,7 +69,13 @@ async def test_aclassify_accepts_token_ids() -> None:
             "priority": 0,
             "add_special_tokens": False,
         }
-        return httpx.Response(status_code=200, json=CLASSIFICATION_RESPONSE)
+        return httpx.Response(
+            status_code=200,
+            json={
+                **CLASSIFICATION_RESPONSE,
+                "data": [{"index": 0, "probs": [0.1, 0.9], "num_classes": 2}],
+            },
+        )
 
     async with httpx.AsyncClient(transport=httpx.MockTransport(transport)) as async_client:
         response = await litellm.aclassify(
@@ -82,3 +88,4 @@ async def test_aclassify_accepts_token_ids() -> None:
 
     assert isinstance(response, ClassificationResponse)
     assert response.id == "classify-test"
+    assert response.data[0].label is None