diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/loadJWT.ts b/backend/src/middleware/loadJWT.ts
index fe37c8f..083a026 100644
--- a/backend/src/middleware/loadJWT.ts
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/loadJWT.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import { Request, Response, NextFunction } from "express";
 import JsonWebToken from '../types/JsonWebToken.ts';
 import { verifySignature, decodeJWT } from '../helpers/jwt.ts';
 import { refreshJWT } from "./refreshJWT.ts";
-import { validateCall } from "./validateCall.ts";
 
 export function loadJWT(
   req: Request,
@@ -68,6 +67,6 @@ export function loadJWT(
     }
   }
 
-  return validateCall(req, res, next);
+  return next();
 };
 
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/refreshJWT.ts b/backend/src/middleware/refreshJWT.ts
index 9af7c30..945beee 100644
--- a/backend/src/middleware/refreshJWT.ts
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/refreshJWT.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import { Request, Response, NextFunction } from "express";
-import { validateCall } from "./validateCall.ts";
 import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/node-postgres';
 import { eq } from 'drizzle-orm';
 import { users } from '../db/schema.ts';
@@ -66,5 +65,5 @@ export async function refreshJWT(
   const parsedJWT = decodeJWT(jwt);
   req.jwt = parsedJWT;
 
-  return validateCall(req, res, next);
+  return next();
 };
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/validateCall.ts b/backend/src/middleware/validateCall.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 7a1c93e..0000000
--- a/backend/src/middleware/validateCall.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-import { Request, Response, NextFunction } from "express";
-
-export function validateCall(
-  req: Request,
-  res: Response,
-  next: NextFunction
-) {
-  next();
-};
diff --git a/backend/src/routes/auth.ts b/backend/src/routes/auth.ts
index 7a37e5f..e3f333e 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/auth.ts
+++ b/backend/src/routes/auth.ts
@@ -51,19 +51,29 @@ authRouter.post("/signup", async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
     .update(`${presalt}${password}${postsalt}`)
     .digest("base64url");
 
-  await db
-    .insert(users)
-    .values({
-      display_name: display_name,
-      username: username,
-      hashed_password: hashedPassword,
-      permissions: 44
-    });
+  try {
+    await db
+      .insert(users)
+      .values({
+        display_name: display_name,
+        username: username,
+        hashed_password: hashedPassword,
+        permissions: 44
+      });
+  } catch (err: any) {
+    if (err.cause.code === "23505") {
+      return res.status(409).json({
+        error: "Username already exists"
+      });
+    }
+
+    throw err;
+  }
 
   loginUser(username, password, res);
 });
 
-// because it write the response, has to be last step
+// because it writes to the response, has to be last step
 async function loginUser(username: string, password: string, res: Response) {
   const hashedPassword = crypto
     .createHmac('sha256', hashSecret)