diff --git a/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/core/cql/CassandraExceptionTranslator.java b/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/core/cql/CassandraExceptionTranslator.java
index 9bcc13bbc..be17bf1ae 100644
--- a/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/core/cql/CassandraExceptionTranslator.java
+++ b/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/core/cql/CassandraExceptionTranslator.java
@@ -21,12 +21,6 @@ import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 
-import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.AllNodesFailedException;
-import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.DriverException;
-import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.auth.AuthenticationException;
-import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.metadata.Node;
-import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.servererrors.*;
-
 import org.springframework.dao.DataAccessException;
 import org.springframework.dao.DataAccessResourceFailureException;
 import org.springframework.dao.TransientDataAccessResourceException;
@@ -36,6 +30,12 @@ import org.springframework.lang.Nullable;
 import org.springframework.util.ClassUtils;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
+import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.AllNodesFailedException;
+import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.DriverException;
+import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.auth.AuthenticationException;
+import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.metadata.Node;
+import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.servererrors.*;
+
 /**
  * Simple {@link PersistenceExceptionTranslator} for Cassandra.
  * <p>
@@ -156,8 +156,13 @@ public class CassandraExceptionTranslator implements CqlExceptionTranslator {
 			return new DataAccessResourceFailureException(message, exception);
 		}
 
-		// unknown or unhandled exception
-		return new CassandraUncategorizedException(message, exception);
+		if (exception instanceof DriverException
+				|| (exception.getClass().getName().startsWith("com.datastax.oss.driver"))) {
+			// unknown or unhandled exception
+			return new CassandraUncategorizedException(message, exception);
+		}
+
+		return null;
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/spring-data-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/core/cql/CassandraExceptionTranslatorUnitTests.java b/spring-data-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/core/cql/CassandraExceptionTranslatorUnitTests.java
index 2e6c8dfca..7b690c577 100755
--- a/spring-data-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/core/cql/CassandraExceptionTranslatorUnitTests.java
+++ b/spring-data-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/core/cql/CassandraExceptionTranslatorUnitTests.java
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ package org.springframework.data.cassandra.core.cql;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.*;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 
-import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
@@ -29,7 +28,6 @@ import org.springframework.dao.DataAccessException;
 import org.springframework.dao.DataAccessResourceFailureException;
 import org.springframework.dao.TransientDataAccessResourceException;
 import org.springframework.data.cassandra.*;
-import org.springframework.util.ClassUtils;
 
 import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.DefaultConsistencyLevel;
 import com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.NoNodeAvailableException;
@@ -232,6 +230,11 @@ class CassandraExceptionTranslatorUnitTests {
 				Arrays.asList(ProtocolVersion.V3, ProtocolVersion.V4)))).isInstanceOf(CassandraUncategorizedException.class);
 	}
 
+	@Test // GH-1155
+	void shouldNotTranslateUnknownExceptions() {
+		assertThat(sut.translateExceptionIfPossible(new UnsupportedOperationException())).isNull();
+	}
+
 	@Test // DATACASS-335
 	void shouldTranslateWithCqlMessage() {
 
@@ -241,14 +244,4 @@ class CassandraExceptionTranslatorUnitTests {
 		assertThat(dax).hasRootCauseInstanceOf(InvalidConfigurationInQueryException.class).hasMessage(
 				"Query; CQL [SELECT * FROM person]; err; nested exception is com.datastax.oss.driver.api.core.servererrors.InvalidConfigurationInQueryException: err");
 	}
-
-	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
-	<T> T createInstance(String className, Class<?> argTypes[], Object... args)
-			throws ReflectiveOperationException {
-
-		Class<T> exceptionClass = (Class) ClassUtils.forName(className, getClass().getClassLoader());
-		Constructor<T> constructor = exceptionClass.getDeclaredConstructor(argTypes);
-
-		return constructor.newInstance(args);
-	}
 }