diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LineText.java b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LineText.java
index c5c9e89b1..06b9cb4c5 100644
--- a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LineText.java
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LineText.java
@@ -95,5 +95,3 @@ class LineText
         }
     }
 }
-
-
diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/MyVariable.java b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/MyVariable.java
index fad753703..15ead83e0 100644
--- a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/MyVariable.java
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/MyVariable.java
@@ -43,4 +43,10 @@ class MyVariable
     {
         return mModifierSet;
     }
+
+    /** @return the line number that the declaration starts on **/
+    int getLineNo()
+    {
+        return Math.min(super.getLineNo(), mModifierSet.getFirstLineNo());
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/InputTags.java b/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/InputTags.java
index c5059f2ee..85dda801a 100644
--- a/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/InputTags.java
+++ b/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/InputTags.java
@@ -134,5 +134,9 @@ class InputTags
     {
         int z = 2; // should not require any javadoc
     }
+
+    /** handle where variable declaration over several lines **/
+    private static final int
+        ON_SECOND_LINE = 2;
 }