diff --git a/api/FilterLists.Api/Controllers/ListsController.cs b/api/FilterLists.Api/Controllers/ListsController.cs
index 383fe0eca..8b353a063 100644
--- a/api/FilterLists.Api/Controllers/ListsController.cs
+++ b/api/FilterLists.Api/Controllers/ListsController.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-using FilterLists.Services;
-using FilterLists.Services.Contracts;
+using FilterLists.Services.Contracts;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
 
 namespace FilterLists.Api.Controllers
diff --git a/api/FilterLists.Api/DependencyInjection/Extensions/ConfigureServicesCollection.cs b/api/FilterLists.Api/DependencyInjection/Extensions/ConfigureServicesCollection.cs
index 67d926f24..749a4f785 100644
--- a/api/FilterLists.Api/DependencyInjection/Extensions/ConfigureServicesCollection.cs
+++ b/api/FilterLists.Api/DependencyInjection/Extensions/ConfigureServicesCollection.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using Newtonsoft.Json;
 
 namespace FilterLists.Api.DependencyInjection.Extensions
 {
@@ -6,7 +7,12 @@ public static class ConfigureServicesCollection
     {
         public static IServiceCollection RegisterFilterListsApi(this IServiceCollection services)
         {
-            services.AddMvc();
+            services.AddMvc()
+                .AddJsonOptions(options =>
+                {
+                    //TODO: determine why null values still get returned
+                    options.SerializerSettings.NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore;
+                });
             return services;
         }
     }