diff --git a/src/util/lp/lar_term.h b/src/util/lp/lar_term.h
index 534896d4c..7c69e4716 100644
--- a/src/util/lp/lar_term.h
+++ b/src/util/lp/lar_term.h
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ public:
     }
 
     bool is_empty() const {
-        return m_coeffs.empty(); // && is_zero(m_v);
+        return m_coeffs.empty();
     }
     
     unsigned size() const { return static_cast<unsigned>(m_coeffs.size()); }
diff --git a/src/util/lp/nla_solver.cpp b/src/util/lp/nla_solver.cpp
index a17249c55..a554302e2 100644
--- a/src/util/lp/nla_solver.cpp
+++ b/src/util/lp/nla_solver.cpp
@@ -261,6 +261,9 @@ struct solver::imp {
         lp::lar_term t;
         t.add_coeff_var(a, j);
         t.add_coeff_var(b, k);
+        if (t.is_empty() && rs.is_zero() &&
+            (cmp == lp::lconstraint_kind::LT || cmp == lp::lconstraint_kind::GT || cmp == lp::lconstraint_kind::NE))
+            return; // otherwise we get something like 0 < 0, which is always false and can be removed from the lemma
         m_lemma->push_back(ineq(cmp, t, rs));
     }
 
diff --git a/src/util/lp/ul_pair.h b/src/util/lp/ul_pair.h
index e7ac68ed2..82bb8838a 100644
--- a/src/util/lp/ul_pair.h
+++ b/src/util/lp/ul_pair.h
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ namespace lp {
 
 enum lconstraint_kind { LE = -2, LT = -1 , GE = 2, GT = 1, EQ = 0, NE = 3 };
 
-
 inline bool kind_is_strict(lconstraint_kind kind) { return kind == LT || kind == GT;}
 
 inline std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& out, lconstraint_kind k) {