diff --git a/src/uevent_sender.c b/src/uevent_sender.c
index a9e3b5b..e9b2888 100644
--- a/src/uevent_sender.c
+++ b/src/uevent_sender.c
@@ -100,8 +100,14 @@ sendmsg_one(struct iovec *iov, size_t iov_len, const char *path)
     const struct msghdr msg = { .msg_name = &event_addr, .msg_iov = iov, .msg_iovlen = iov_len };
     ssize_t count = sendmsg(fd, &msg, 0);
     if (count < 0) {
-        perror("uevent_sender sendmsg_one: sendmsg failed");
-        abort();
+	if (errno == ECONNREFUSED) {
+	    /* client side closed its monitor underneath us, so clean up and ignore */
+	    unlink(event_addr.sun_path);
+	    close(fd);
+	    return;
+	}
+	perror("uevent_sender sendmsg_one: sendmsg failed");
+	abort();
     }
     /* printf("passed %zi bytes to event socket %s\n", count, path); */
     close(fd);