diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ListClassGroupsController.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ListClassGroupsController.java
index 73384ba8c..63613b3c2 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ListClassGroupsController.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ListClassGroupsController.java
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ public class ListClassGroupsController extends FreemarkerHttpServlet {
                     if ( StringUtils.isBlank(publicName) ) {
                         publicName = "(unnamed group)";
                     }           
+                    publicName = publicName.replace("\"","\\\"");
+                    publicName = publicName.replace("\'","\\\'");
                     try {
                         json += "{ \"name\": \"<a href='./editForm?uri="+URLEncoder.encode(vcg.getURI(),"UTF-8")+"&amp;controller=Classgroup'>"+publicName+"</a>\", ";
                     } catch (Exception e) {
@@ -90,6 +92,8 @@ public class ListClassGroupsController extends FreemarkerHttpServlet {
                             }
 
                             String shortDefStr = (vcw.getShortDef() == null) ? "" : vcw.getShortDef();
+                            shortDefStr = shortDefStr.replace("\"","\\\"");
+                            shortDefStr = shortDefStr.replace("\'","\\\'");
                             json += "\"data\": { \"shortDef\": \"" + shortDefStr + "\"}, \"children\": [] ";
                             if (classIt.hasNext())
                                 json += "} , ";
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ListPropertyGroupsController.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ListPropertyGroupsController.java
index 2f147fcd8..1cc66879b 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ListPropertyGroupsController.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ListPropertyGroupsController.java
@@ -70,8 +70,10 @@ public class ListPropertyGroupsController extends FreemarkerHttpServlet {
                         if ( StringUtils.isBlank(publicName) ) {
                             publicName = "(unnamed group)";
                         }           
+                        publicName = publicName.replace("\"","\\\"");
+                        publicName = publicName.replace("\'","\\\'");
                         try {
-                            json += "{ \"name\": \"<a href='./editForm?uri="+URLEncoder.encode(pg.getURI(),"UTF-8")+"&amp;controller=Classgroup'>"+publicName+"</a>\", ";
+                            json += "{ \"name\": \"<a href='./editForm?uri="+URLEncoder.encode(pg.getURI(),"UTF-8")+"&amp;controller=Classgroup'>" + publicName + "</a>\", ";
                         } catch (Exception e) {
                             json += "{ \"name\": \"" + publicName + "\", ";
                         }
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ShowClassHierarchyController.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ShowClassHierarchyController.java
index 40cac772c..1ba366f28 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ShowClassHierarchyController.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/freemarker/ShowClassHierarchyController.java
@@ -208,7 +208,10 @@ public class ShowClassHierarchyController extends FreemarkerHttpServlet {
                  tempString += "\" " + ((vcw.getLocalNameWithPrefix() == null) ? "" : vcw.getLocalNameWithPrefix()) + "\", ";
             }
 
-            tempString += "\"data\": { \"shortDef\": \"" + ((vcw.getShortDef() == null) ? "" : vcw.getShortDef()) + "\", ";
+            String shortDef = ((vcw.getShortDef() == null) ? "" : vcw.getShortDef()) ;
+            shortDef = shortDef.replace("\"","\\\"");
+            shortDef = shortDef.replace("\'","\\\'");
+            tempString += "\"data\": { \"shortDef\": \"" + shortDef + "\", ";
 
             // Get group name if it exists
             VClassGroupDao groupDao= wadf.getVClassGroupDao();