Index: src/main/java/org/apache/tika/parser/mail/RFC822Parser.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/org/apache/tika/parser/mail/RFC822Parser.java	(revision 1125433)
+++ src/main/java/org/apache/tika/parser/mail/RFC822Parser.java	(working copy)
@@ -63,8 +63,9 @@
         MimeStreamParser parser = new MimeStreamParser(config);
         XHTMLContentHandler xhtml = new XHTMLContentHandler(handler, metadata);
 
-        MailContentHandler mch = new MailContentHandler(xhtml, metadata);
-        parser.setContentHandler(mch);
+		MailContentHandler mch = new MailContentHandler(xhtml, metadata,
+				config.isStrictParsing());
+		parser.setContentHandler(mch);
         parser.setContentDecoding(true);
         TaggedInputStream tagged = TaggedInputStream.get(stream);
         try {
Index: src/main/java/org/apache/tika/parser/mail/MailContentHandler.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/org/apache/tika/parser/mail/MailContentHandler.java	(revision 1125433)
+++ src/main/java/org/apache/tika/parser/mail/MailContentHandler.java	(working copy)
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
 import org.apache.james.mime4j.MimeException;
 import org.apache.james.mime4j.descriptor.BodyDescriptor;
@@ -25,6 +27,7 @@
 import org.apache.james.mime4j.field.AddressListField;
 import org.apache.james.mime4j.field.DateTimeField;
 import org.apache.james.mime4j.field.MailboxListField;
+import org.apache.james.mime4j.field.ParsedField;
 import org.apache.james.mime4j.field.UnstructuredField;
 import org.apache.james.mime4j.field.address.AddressList;
 import org.apache.james.mime4j.field.address.MailboxList;
@@ -44,15 +47,20 @@
  * http://james.apache.org/mime4j/apidocs/org/apache/james/mime4j/parser/ContentHandler.html
  */
 class MailContentHandler implements ContentHandler {
+	
+	private static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(MailContentHandler.class.getName());
+	
+    private boolean strictParsing = false;
 
     private XHTMLContentHandler handler;
     private Metadata metadata;
 
     private boolean inPart = false;
-
-    MailContentHandler(XHTMLContentHandler xhtml, Metadata metadata) {
+    
+    MailContentHandler(XHTMLContentHandler xhtml, Metadata metadata, boolean strictParsing) {
         this.handler = xhtml;
         this.metadata = metadata;
+        this.strictParsing = strictParsing;
     }
 
     public void body(BodyDescriptor body, InputStream is) throws MimeException,
@@ -126,83 +134,71 @@
         if (inPart) {
             return;
         }
+	
+		try {
+			String fieldname = field.getName();
+			ParsedField parsedField = AbstractField.parse(field.getRaw());
+			if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("From")) {
+				MailboxListField fromField = (MailboxListField) parsedField;
+				MailboxList mailboxList = fromField.getMailboxList();
+				if (fromField.isValidField() && mailboxList != null) {
+					for (int i = 0; i < mailboxList.size(); i++) {
+						String from = mailboxList.get(i).getDisplayString();
+						metadata.add(Metadata.MESSAGE_FROM, from);
+						metadata.add(Metadata.AUTHOR, from);
+					}
+				} else {
+					String from = stripOutFieldPrefix(field, "From:");
+					if (from.startsWith("<")) {
+						from = from.substring(1);
+					}
+					if (from.endsWith(">")) {
+						from = from.substring(0, from.length() - 1);
+					}
+					metadata.add(Metadata.MESSAGE_FROM, from);
+					metadata.add(Metadata.AUTHOR, from);
+				}
+			} else if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("Subject")) {
+				metadata.add(Metadata.SUBJECT,
+						((UnstructuredField) parsedField).getValue());
+			} else if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("To")) {
+				processAddressList(parsedField, "To:", Metadata.MESSAGE_TO);
+			} else if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("CC")) {
+				processAddressList(parsedField, "Cc:", Metadata.MESSAGE_CC);
+			} else if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("BCC")) {
+				processAddressList(parsedField, "Bcc:", Metadata.MESSAGE_BCC);
+			} else if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("Date")) {
+				DateTimeField dateField = (DateTimeField) parsedField;
+				metadata.set(Metadata.DATE, dateField.getDate());
+				metadata.set(Metadata.CREATION_DATE, dateField.getDate());
+			}
+		} catch (RuntimeException me) {
+			if (strictParsing) {
+				throw me;
+			} else {
+				log.log(Level.WARNING, "Exception caught parsing field: "
+						+ field.getRaw().toString(), me);
+			}
+		}
+	}
 
-        String fieldname = field.getName();
-        if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("From")) {
-            MailboxListField fromField =
-                (MailboxListField) AbstractField.parse(field.getRaw());
-            MailboxList mailboxList = fromField.getMailboxList();
-            if (fromField.isValidField() && mailboxList != null) {
-                for (int i = 0; i < mailboxList.size(); i++) {
-                    String from = mailboxList.get(i).getDisplayString();
-                    metadata.add(Metadata.MESSAGE_FROM, from);
-                    metadata.add(Metadata.AUTHOR, from);
-                }
-            } else {
-                String from =
-                    stripOutFieldPrefix(field.getRaw().toString(), "From:");
-                if (from.startsWith("<")) {
-                    from = from.substring(1);
-                }
-                if (from.endsWith(">")) {
-                    from = from.substring(0, from.length() - 1);
-                }
-                metadata.add(Metadata.MESSAGE_FROM, from);
-                metadata.add(Metadata.AUTHOR, from);
-            }
-        } else if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("Subject")) {
-            UnstructuredField subjectField =
-                (UnstructuredField) AbstractField.parse(field.getRaw());
-            metadata.add(Metadata.SUBJECT, subjectField.getValue());
-        } else if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("To")) {
-            AddressListField toField =
-                (AddressListField) AbstractField.parse(field.getRaw());
-            if (toField.isValidField()) {
-                AddressList addressList = toField.getAddressList();
-                for (int i = 0; i < addressList.size(); ++i) {
-                    metadata.add(Metadata.MESSAGE_TO, addressList.get(i).getDisplayString());
-                }
-            } else {
-                String to = stripOutFieldPrefix(field.getRaw().toString(), "To:");
-                for (String eachTo : to.split(",")) {
-                    metadata.add(Metadata.MESSAGE_TO, eachTo.trim());
-                }
-            }
-        } else if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("CC")) {
-            AddressListField ccField =
-                (AddressListField) AbstractField.parse(field.getRaw());
-            if (ccField.isValidField()) {
-                AddressList addressList = ccField.getAddressList();
-                for (int i = 0; i < addressList.size(); ++i) {
-                    metadata.add(Metadata.MESSAGE_CC, addressList.get(i).getDisplayString());
-                }
-            } else {
-                String Cc = stripOutFieldPrefix(field.getRaw().toString(), "Cc:");
-                for (String eachCc : Cc.split(",")) {
-                    metadata.add(Metadata.MESSAGE_CC, eachCc.trim());
-                }
-            }
-        } else if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("BCC")) {
-            AddressListField bccField =
-                (AddressListField) AbstractField.parse(field.getRaw());
-            if(bccField.isValidField()){
-                AddressList addressList = bccField.getAddressList();
-                for (int i = 0; i < addressList.size(); ++i) {
-                    metadata.add(Metadata.MESSAGE_BCC, addressList.get(i).getDisplayString());
-                }
-            } else {
-                String Bcc = stripOutFieldPrefix(field.getRaw().toString(), "Bcc:");
-                for(String eachBcc : Bcc.split(",")){
-                    metadata.add(Metadata.MESSAGE_CC, eachBcc.trim());
-                }
-            }
-        }  else if (fieldname.equalsIgnoreCase("Date")) {
-            DateTimeField dateField =
-                (DateTimeField) AbstractField.parse(field.getRaw());
-            metadata.set(Metadata.DATE, dateField.getDate());
-            metadata.set(Metadata.CREATION_DATE, dateField.getDate());
-        }
-    }
+	private void processAddressList(ParsedField field, String addressListType,
+			String metadataField) throws MimeException {
+		AddressListField toField = (AddressListField) field;
+		if (toField.isValidField()) {
+			AddressList addressList = toField.getAddressList();
+			for (int i = 0; i < addressList.size(); ++i) {
+				metadata.add(metadataField, addressList.get(i)
+						.getDisplayString());
+			}
+		} else {
+			String to = stripOutFieldPrefix(field,
+					addressListType);
+			for (String eachTo : to.split(",")) {
+				metadata.add(metadataField, eachTo.trim());
+			}
+		}
+	}
 
     public void preamble(InputStream is) throws MimeException, IOException {
     }
@@ -228,12 +224,13 @@
         inPart = true;
     }
 
-    public String stripOutFieldPrefix(String rawField, String fieldname){
-        String temp = rawField.substring(fieldname.length(), rawField.length());
-        while (temp.startsWith(" ")) {
-            temp = temp.substring(1);
-        }
-        return temp;
-    }
+	private String stripOutFieldPrefix(Field field, String fieldname) {
+		String temp = field.getRaw().toString();
+		int loc = fieldname.length();
+		while (temp.charAt(loc) ==' ') {
+			loc++;
+		}
+		return temp.substring(loc);
+	}
 
 }
\ No newline at end of file