diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/546-conflict-error.yml b/changelogs/fragments/546-conflict-error.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3b067bc6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/546-conflict-error.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - "docker_api connection plugin - fix error handling when 409 Conflict is returned by the Docker daemon in case of a stopped container (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.docker/pull/546)."
+  - "docker_container_exec - fix error handling when 409 Conflict is returned by the Docker daemon in case of a stopped container (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.docker/pull/546)."
diff --git a/plugins/connection/docker_api.py b/plugins/connection/docker_api.py
index 102f9237..de2a380d 100644
--- a/plugins/connection/docker_api.py
+++ b/plugins/connection/docker_api.py
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
             else:
                 raise AnsibleConnectionFailure('Could not find container "{1}" ({0})'.format(e, self.get_option('remote_addr')))
         except APIError as e:
-            if e.response and e.response.status_code == 409:
+            if e.response is not None and e.response.status_code == 409:
                 raise AnsibleConnectionFailure('The container "{1}" has been paused ({0})'.format(e, self.get_option('remote_addr')))
             self.client.fail(
                 'An unexpected docker error occurred for container "{1}": {0}'.format(e, self.get_option('remote_addr'))
diff --git a/plugins/modules/docker_container_exec.py b/plugins/modules/docker_container_exec.py
index 393e2ef3..3438bc83 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/docker_container_exec.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/docker_container_exec.py
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ def main():
     except NotFound:
         client.fail('Could not find container "{0}"'.format(container))
     except APIError as e:
-        if e.response and e.response.status_code == 409:
+        if e.response is not None and e.response.status_code == 409:
             client.fail('The container "{0}" has been paused ({1})'.format(container, to_native(e)))
         client.fail('An unexpected docker error occurred: {0}'.format(to_native(e)), exception=traceback.format_exc())
     except DockerException as e: