diff --git a/app/controllers/batch_update_placements_controller.rb b/app/controllers/batch_update_placements_controller.rb
index 741afb4..a4dccb2 100644
--- a/app/controllers/batch_update_placements_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/batch_update_placements_controller.rb
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 class BatchUpdatePlacementsController < ApplicationController
-  
+
   before_filter :find_plan_by_id
   before_filter :verify_params
-  
+
   include PlanStaleDataChecking
   after_filter :create_plan_modification
   before_filter :check_plan_freshness
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ class BatchUpdatePlacementsController < ApplicationController
   def create
     PlanRow.update_placements_by_ids(params[:placement_ids], params[:attributes])
     render :nothing => true
-  rescue => e
-    render :status => 400, :json => e.message.to_json
+  rescue PlanRow::BatchUpdatePlacementsError => placement_errors
+    render :status => 400, :json => placement_errors.message.to_json
   end
 
 private
diff --git a/app/models/plan_row.rb b/app/models/plan_row.rb
index 94c3cb0..6d4d3ef 100644
--- a/app/models/plan_row.rb
+++ b/app/models/plan_row.rb
@@ -97,14 +97,16 @@ class PlanRow < ActiveRecord::Base
   def self.update_placements_by_ids(placement_ids, attributes)
     transaction do
       Placement.find(placement_ids).each do |placement|
-        placement.attributes = placement.attributes.merge(attributes)
-        placement.save!
+        placement.update_attributes!(attributes)
       end
     end
-  rescue ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid => e
-    placement = e.record
-    errors = { placement.id => placement.errors.full_messages }
-    raise BatchUpdatePlacementsError, errors
+  rescue ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid => placement_exception
+    placement_errors = placement_exception.record.errors
+    errors_by_attr = placement_errors.inject(Hash.new{|h,k| h[k]=[]}) do |hash, err|
+      hash[err.first] << err.last
+      hash
+    end
+    raise BatchUpdatePlacementsError, errors_by_attr
   end
 
   def assigned_contacts
diff --git a/public/javascripts/app/plans/batch_editor.js b/public/javascripts/app/plans/batch_editor.js
index 1635a80..d1868c2 100644
--- a/public/javascripts/app/plans/batch_editor.js
+++ b/public/javascripts/app/plans/batch_editor.js
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ var BatchEditor = Class.create({
   _selector: function(colType) {
     return 'td.'+colType;
   },
-  
+
   _getCell: function(row, colType) {
     return row.down(this._selector(colType));
   },
@@ -110,12 +110,9 @@ var BatchEditor = Class.create({
   },
 
   failureHandler: function(response) {
-    // FIXME: boo-hoo! refactor this!!!
-    var errors = $H(response.responseJSON).values().first();
-    errors.each(function(error) {
-      var column = this.columns.first();
-      if (error.startsWith('End date')) { column = this.columns.last(); }
-      column.setError(error);
+    var errors = $H(response.responseJSON);
+    errors.each(function(pair){
+      this.columns.invoke('setError', pair.key, pair.value);
     }.bind(this));
   },
 
@@ -123,7 +120,7 @@ var BatchEditor = Class.create({
     this.columns.invoke('revert');
     this._exitBatchEditMode();
   },
-  
+
   _exitBatchEditMode: function() {
     this.plan.stateMachine.sendEvent('exitBatchEditMode');
     this.submitButton.removeClassName('active');
@@ -133,7 +130,7 @@ var BatchEditor = Class.create({
   _addObservers: function(){
     this.clickHandler = this.onClickDispatcher.bindAsEventListener(this);
     this.planElem.observe('click', this.clickHandler);
-    
+
     this.columnChangeHandler = function() {
       this.submitButton.addClassName('active');
     }.bind(this);
@@ -170,6 +167,7 @@ BatchEditor.Column = Class.create({
 
     this._insertInputElem(attributeName, activate);
     this._highlightMatchingCells();
+    this.attributeName = attributeName;
   },
 
   _insertInputElem: function(attributeName, activate) {
@@ -193,9 +191,11 @@ BatchEditor.Column = Class.create({
     return this.inputElem.serialize();
   },
 
-  setError: function(message) {
-    this.inputElem.title = message;
-    this.inputElem.addClassName('error');
+  setError: function(attr_name, messages) {
+    if (this.attributeName.match(attr_name)){
+      this.inputElem.title = messages.join(', ');
+      this.inputElem.addClassName('error');
+    }
   },
 
   clearError: function() {
diff --git a/test/functional/batch_update_placements_controller_test.rb b/test/functional/batch_update_placements_controller_test.rb
index 3d085f1..a9347be 100644
--- a/test/functional/batch_update_placements_controller_test.rb
+++ b/test/functional/batch_update_placements_controller_test.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../test_helper'
 
-
 class BatchUpdatePlacementsTest < MmsTestCase
   def setup
     super
@@ -74,14 +73,14 @@ class BatchUpdatePlacementsTest < MmsTestCase
     context "when validations on placements fail" do
       setup do
         @payload[:attributes] = { :start_date => '10/22/2008', :end_date => '10/02/2008' }
-        
         post :create, @payload
       end
 
       should_respond_with 400
 
-      should "return an error msg with the validation failure msg" do
-        assert_match /End date must not be earlier than start date/, @response.body
+      should "return JSON of the errors" do
+        error = {:end_date => ['must not be earlier than start date']}
+        assert_equal(error.to_json, @response.body)
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/test/js_unit/plans/batch_editor_column_test.html b/test/js_unit/plans/batch_editor_column_test.html
index 8ebcd2d..facf620 100644
--- a/test/js_unit/plans/batch_editor_column_test.html
+++ b/test/js_unit/plans/batch_editor_column_test.html
@@ -130,10 +130,17 @@
       assertEqual(inputElem.serialize(), column.serialize());
     }},
 
-    testSetErrorShouldAddErrorClassAndSetTitle: function() { with(this) {
-      column.setError('oops!');
-      assertEqual('oops!', inputElem.title);
-      assert(inputElem.hasClassName('error'));
+    testSetErrorShouldSetTitleAndClassWhenAttributeNameMatches: function () { with(this) {
+      this.column.setError('ad_type_name', ['is dumb', 'is wrong']);
+
+      assert(this.inputElem.hasClassName('error'));
+      assertEqual('is dumb, is wrong', this.inputElem.title);
+    }},
+
+    testSetErrorShouldNotDoAnythingWhenAttributeNameDoesNotMatch: function () { with(this) {
+      this.column.setError('start_date', ['error', 'message']);
+
+      assert(!this.inputElem.hasClassName('error'));
     }},
 
     testClearErrorShouldRemoveErrorClassAndClearTitle: function() { with(this) {
diff --git a/test/js_unit/plans/batch_editor_test.html b/test/js_unit/plans/batch_editor_test.html
index 4e9183e..bea9901 100644
--- a/test/js_unit/plans/batch_editor_test.html
+++ b/test/js_unit/plans/batch_editor_test.html
@@ -290,24 +290,20 @@
       });
     }},
 
-    testOnSubmitFailureAddHilightToInputElement: function() { with(this) {
-      fireMouseEvent($('ad_type_1'), 'click');
-
-      var adType1Input = $('ad_type_1').down('input');
+    testOnSubmitFailureShouldCallSetErrorOnColumns: function() { with(this) {
+      startDateCol = new BatchEditor.Column($('placement_1'), [$('placement_3')],
+        '.start_date_col', 'start_date_string');
+      endDateCol = new BatchEditor.Column($('placement_1'), [$('placement_3')],
+        '.end_date_col', 'end_date_string');
+      this.batchEditor.columns = [ startDateCol, endDateCol ];
       var rsp = {
-        responseJSON: {
-          1: ['foo bar'],
-          3: ['foo bar']
-        }
+        responseJSON: {'start_date': ['is not a valid date']}
       };
-      adType1Input.value = 'foo/bar';
-       wait(300,  function() {
-         submitButton.click();
-         Ajax.mock_requests[0].options.onFailure(rsp);
-
-         assert(adType1Input.hasClassName('error'), "doesn't have error class");
-         assertEqual('foo bar', adType1Input.title)
-       });
+
+      mock(startDateCol).expects('setError').with('start_date', ['is not a valid date']);
+      mock(endDateCol).expects('setError').with('start_date', ['is not a valid date']);
+
+      this.batchEditor.failureHandler(rsp);
     }}
 
   });
diff --git a/test/unit/plan_row_test.rb b/test/unit/plan_row_test.rb
index b60171f..950dad3 100644
--- a/test/unit/plan_row_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/plan_row_test.rb
@@ -764,13 +764,14 @@ class PlanRowTest < MmsTestCase
         end
       end
 
-      should "return a hash of errors keyed on the placement_id with a failed validation" do
+      should "return a hash of placement errors" do
         begin
           as_actor(virgil) do
             PlanRow.update_placements_by_ids(@ids, @attributes)
           end
-        rescue Exception => e
-          assert @ids.size, e.message.size
+        rescue Exception => placement_errors
+          assert_equal({'end_date' => ['must not be earlier than start date']},
+            placement_errors.message)
         end
       end
     end
diff --git a/vendor/plugins/ersatz b/vendor/plugins/ersatz
index 5cbf426..be4891d 160000
--- a/vendor/plugins/ersatz
+++ b/vendor/plugins/ersatz
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 5cbf4265a2b1837f5abec2020410c426e8859b5c
+Subproject commit be4891df7d5b652944d113205a8ac8db19dda04a