diff --git a/web/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/rest/AbstractWebResource.java b/web/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/rest/AbstractWebResource.java
index 0a8f2c1..49e4dca 100644
--- a/web/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/rest/AbstractWebResource.java
+++ b/web/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/rest/AbstractWebResource.java
@@ -17,11 +17,10 @@
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ObjectNode;
-import org.onlab.util.ItemNotFoundException;
+import org.onlab.rest.BaseResource;
 import org.onosproject.codec.CodecContext;
 import org.onosproject.codec.CodecService;
 import org.onosproject.codec.JsonCodec;
-import org.onlab.rest.BaseResource;
 
 /**
  * Abstract REST resource.
@@ -61,21 +60,4 @@
         return result;
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Returns the specified item if that items is null; otherwise throws
-     * not found exception.
-     *
-     * @param item    item to check
-     * @param message not found message
-     * @param <T>     item type
-     * @return item if not null
-     * @throws org.onlab.util.ItemNotFoundException if item is null
-     */
-    protected <T> T nullIsNotFound(T item, String message) {
-        if (item == null) {
-            throw new ItemNotFoundException(message);
-        }
-        return item;
-    }
-
 }