diff --git a/deluge/log.py b/deluge/log.py
index f4888158c..9ae0d17f4 100644
--- a/deluge/log.py
+++ b/deluge/log.py
@@ -155,8 +155,9 @@ def setupLogger(level="error", filename=None, filemode="w"):
             delay=0
         )
     elif filename and filemode=='w':
-        getattr(logging.handlers, 'WatchedFileHandler', logging.FileHandler)(
-            filename, filemode, 'utf-8', delay=0
+        handler = getattr(
+            logging.handlers, 'WatchedFileHandler', logging.FileHandler)(
+                filename, filemode, 'utf-8', delay=0
         )
     else:
         handler = logging.StreamHandler()