diff --git a/templates/php-nextgen/api.mustache b/templates/php-nextgen/api.mustache
index 874becc..9d4ca9a 100644
--- a/templates/php-nextgen/api.mustache
+++ b/templates/php-nextgen/api.mustache
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ use {{invokerPackage}}\ObjectSerializer;
 {{/servers}}
      * @param  string $contentType The value for the Content-Type header. Check self::contentTypes['{{{operationId}}}'] to see the possible values for this operation
      *
-     * @throws ApiException on non-2xx response
+     * @throws ApiException on non-2xx response or if the response body is not in the expected format
      * @throws InvalidArgumentException
      * @return {{#returnType}}{{#responses}}{{#dataType}}{{^-first}}|{{/-first}}{{/dataType}}{{{dataType}}}{{/responses}}{{/returnType}}{{^returnType}}void{{/returnType}}
     {{#isDeprecated}}
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ use {{invokerPackage}}\ObjectSerializer;
 {{/servers}}
      * @param  string $contentType The value for the Content-Type header. Check self::contentTypes['{{{operationId}}}'] to see the possible values for this operation
      *
-     * @throws ApiException on non-2xx response
+     * @throws ApiException on non-2xx response or if the response body is not in the expected format
      * @throws InvalidArgumentException
      * @return array of {{#returnType}}{{#responses}}{{#dataType}}{{^-first}}|{{/-first}}{{/dataType}}{{{dataType}}}{{/responses}}{{/returnType}}{{^returnType}}null{{/returnType}}, HTTP status code, HTTP response headers (array of strings)
     {{#isDeprecated}}
@@ -311,7 +311,19 @@ use {{invokerPackage}}\ObjectSerializer;
                     } else {
                         $content = (string) $response->getBody();
                         if ('{{{dataType}}}' !== 'string') {
-                            $content = json_decode($content);
+                            try {
+                                $content = json_decode($content, false, 512, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR);
+                            } catch (\JsonException $exception) {
+                                throw new ApiException(
+                                    sprintf(
+                                        'Error JSON decoding server response (%s)',
+                                        $request->getUri()
+                                    ),
+                                    $statusCode,
+                                    $response->getHeaders(),
+                                    $content
+                                );
+                            }
                         }
                     }
 
@@ -332,7 +344,19 @@ use {{invokerPackage}}\ObjectSerializer;
             } else {
                 $content = (string) $response->getBody();
                 if ($returnType !== 'string') {
-                    $content = json_decode($content);
+                    try {
+                        $content = json_decode($content, false, 512, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR);
+                    } catch (\JsonException $exception) {
+                        throw new ApiException(
+                            sprintf(
+                                'Error JSON decoding server response (%s)',
+                                $request->getUri()
+                            ),
+                            $statusCode,
+                            $response->getHeaders(),
+                            $content
+                         );
+                    }
                 }
             }