Index: nnmail.el
===================================================================
RCS file: /usr/local/cvsroot/gnus/lisp/nnmail.el,v
retrieving revision 7.21
diff -u -p -B -w -r7.21 nnmail.el
--- nnmail.el	4 Oct 2005 15:27:45 -0000	7.21
+++ nnmail.el	20 Nov 2005 19:22:21 -0000
@@ -1867,8 +1867,12 @@ See the Info node `(gnus)Fancy Mail Spli
 	 (case-fold-search nil)
 	 (from (or (message-fetch-field "from") ""))
 	 (to (or (message-fetch-field "to") ""))
-	 (date (date-to-time
-		(or (message-fetch-field "date") (current-time-string))))
+	 (date 
+	  (condition-case err
+		  (date-to-time
+		   (or (message-fetch-field "date") (current-time-string)))
+		(error (message "%s" (error-message-string err)) 
+			   (date-to-time (current-time-string)))))
 	 (target 'delete))
     (dolist (regexp-target-pair (reverse nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets) target)
       (setq header (car regexp-target-pair))