diff --git a/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/shuffle/RapidsShuffleClient.scala b/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/shuffle/RapidsShuffleClient.scala
index 0f8bc5b1b13..9aecedf064f 100644
--- a/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/shuffle/RapidsShuffleClient.scala
+++ b/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/shuffle/RapidsShuffleClient.scala
@@ -329,7 +329,10 @@ class RapidsShuffleClient(
     val ptrs = new ArrayBuffer[PendingTransferRequest](allTables)
     (0 until allTables).foreach { i =>
       val tableMeta = ShuffleMetadata.copyTableMetaToHeap(metaResponse.tableMetas(i))
-      if (tableMeta.bufferMeta() != null) {
+     
+      // We check the uncompressedSize to make sure we don't request a 0-sized buffer
+      // from a peer. We treat such a corner case as a degenerate batch
+      if (tableMeta.bufferMeta() != null && tableMeta.bufferMeta().uncompressedSize() > 0) {
         ptrs += PendingTransferRequest(
           this,
           tableMeta,
diff --git a/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/RapidsShuffleInternalManagerBase.scala b/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/RapidsShuffleInternalManagerBase.scala
index 6d967ae2ec7..b32e0d3959d 100644
--- a/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/RapidsShuffleInternalManagerBase.scala
+++ b/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/RapidsShuffleInternalManagerBase.scala
@@ -910,6 +910,12 @@ class RapidsCachingWriter[K, V](
 
   private val uncompressedMetric: SQLMetric = metrics("dataSize")
 
+  // This is here for the special case where we have no columns like with the .count
+  // case or when we have 0-byte columns. We pick 100 as an arbitrary number so that
+  // we can shuffle these degenerate batches, which have valid metadata and should be
+  // used on the reducer side for computation.
+  private val DEGENERATE_PARTITION_BYTE_SIZE_DEFAULT: Long = 100L
+
   override def write(records: Iterator[Product2[K, V]]): Unit = {
     // NOTE: This MUST NOT CLOSE the incoming batches because they are
     //       closed by the input iterator generated by GpuShuffleExchangeExec
@@ -956,7 +962,15 @@ class RapidsCachingWriter[K, V](
               throw new IllegalStateException(s"Unexpected column type: ${c.getClass}")
           }
           bytesWritten += partSize
-          sizes(partId) += partSize
+          // if the size is 0 and we have rows, we are in a case where there are columns
+          // but the type is such that there isn't a buffer in the GPU backing it.
+          // For example, a Struct column without any members. We treat such a case as if it 
+          // were a degenerate table.
+          if (partSize == 0 && batch.numRows() > 0) {
+            sizes(partId) += DEGENERATE_PARTITION_BYTE_SIZE_DEFAULT
+          } else {
+            sizes(partId) += partSize
+          }
           handle
         } else {
           // no device data, tracking only metadata
@@ -966,13 +980,10 @@ class RapidsCachingWriter[K, V](
               blockId,
               tableMeta)
 
-          // The size of the data is really only used to tell if the data should be shuffled or not
-          // a 0 indicates that we should not shuffle anything.  This is here for the special case
-          // where we have no columns, because of predicate push down, but we have a row count as
-          // metadata.  We still want to shuffle it. The 100 is an arbitrary number and can be
-          // any non-zero number that is not too large.
+          // ensure that we set the partition size to the default in this case if
+          // we have non-zero rows, so this degenerate batch is shuffled.
           if (batch.numRows > 0) {
-            sizes(partId) += 100
+            sizes(partId) += DEGENERATE_PARTITION_BYTE_SIZE_DEFAULT
           }
           handle
         }