diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 9861e0a09d..5cbba13f17 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ in development
 * Add support for caching of the retrieved auth tokens to the CLI. (new-feature)
 * Throw a more-user friendly exception when enforcing a rule if an action referenced inside
   the rule definition doesn't exist. (improvement)
+* Fix a bug with the rule evaluation failing if the trigger payload contained a key with a
+  dot in the name. (bug-fix)
 
 v0.9.0 - April 29, 2015
 -----------------------
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1d85a120f4..7892126c8f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ pylint: requirements .pylint
 		echo "==========================================================="; \
 		echo "Running pylint on" $$component; \
 		echo "==========================================================="; \
-		. $(VIRTUALENV_DIR)/bin/activate; pylint -E --rcfile=./.pylintrc --load-plugins=pylint_plugins.api_models $$component/$$component; \
+		. $(VIRTUALENV_DIR)/bin/activate; pylint -E --rcfile=./.pylintrc --load-plugins=pylint_plugins.api_models $$component/$$component || exit 1; \
 	done
 
 .PHONY: flake8
diff --git a/st2actions/st2actions/resultstracker.py b/st2actions/st2actions/resultstracker.py
index 1bb5d9060f..6159a50389 100644
--- a/st2actions/st2actions/resultstracker.py
+++ b/st2actions/st2actions/resultstracker.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def start(self, wait=False):
 
     def wait(self):
         super(ResultsTracker, self).wait()
-        for thread in self._query_threads():
+        for thread in self._query_threads:
             thread.wait()
 
     def shutdown(self):
diff --git a/st2common/st2common/models/db/reactor.py b/st2common/st2common/models/db/reactor.py
index 61397e1d68..0466bce68c 100644
--- a/st2common/st2common/models/db/reactor.py
+++ b/st2common/st2common/models/db/reactor.py
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ class TriggerInstanceDB(stormbase.StormFoundationDB):
         occurrence_time (datetime): time of occurrence of the trigger.
     """
     trigger = me.StringField()
-    payload = me.DictField()
+    payload = stormbase.EscapedDictField()
     occurrence_time = me.DateTimeField()
 
 
diff --git a/st2reactor/tests/unit/test_rule_matcher.py b/st2reactor/tests/unit/test_rule_matcher.py
index 8b527d46ee..a7347b29cd 100644
--- a/st2reactor/tests/unit/test_rule_matcher.py
+++ b/st2reactor/tests/unit/test_rule_matcher.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 
 
 class RuleMatcherTest(DbTestCase):
+    rules = []
 
     def test_get_matching_rules(self):
         self._setup_sample_trigger('st2.test.trigger1')
@@ -40,6 +41,22 @@ def test_get_matching_rules(self):
         self.assertTrue(matching_rules is not None)
         self.assertEqual(len(matching_rules), 1)
 
+    def test_trigger_instance_payload_with_special_values(self):
+        # Test a rule where TriggerInstance payload contains a dot (".") and $
+        self._setup_sample_trigger('st2.test.trigger2')
+        trigger_instance = container_utils.create_trigger_instance(
+            'dummy_pack_1.st2.test.trigger2',
+            {'k1': 't1_p_v', 'k2.k2': 'v2', 'k3.more.nested.deep': 'some.value',
+             'k4.even.more.nested$': 'foo', 'yep$aaa': 'b'},
+            datetime.datetime.utcnow()
+        )
+        trigger = get_trigger_db_by_ref(trigger_instance.trigger)
+        rules = self._get_sample_rules()
+        rules_matcher = RulesMatcher(trigger_instance, trigger, rules)
+        matching_rules = rules_matcher.get_matching_rules()
+        self.assertTrue(matching_rules is not None)
+        self.assertEqual(len(matching_rules), 1)
+
     def _setup_sample_trigger(self, name):
         trigtype = TriggerTypeDB()
         trigtype.name = name
@@ -58,7 +75,9 @@ def _setup_sample_trigger(self, name):
         Trigger.add_or_update(created)
 
     def _get_sample_rules(self):
-        rules = []
+        if self.rules:
+            # Make sure rules are created only once
+            return self.rules
 
         RULE_1 = {
             'enabled': True,
@@ -85,7 +104,7 @@ def _get_sample_rules(self):
         rule_api = RuleAPI(**RULE_1)
         rule_db = RuleAPI.to_model(rule_api)
         rule_db = Rule.add_or_update(rule_db)
-        rules.append(rule_db)
+        self.rules.append(rule_db)
 
         RULE_2 = {                      # Rule should match.
             'enabled': True,
@@ -112,7 +131,7 @@ def _get_sample_rules(self):
         rule_api = RuleAPI(**RULE_2)
         rule_db = RuleAPI.to_model(rule_api)
         rule_db = Rule.add_or_update(rule_db)
-        rules.append(rule_db)
+        self.rules.append(rule_db)
 
         RULE_3 = {
             'enabled': False,         # Disabled rule shouldn't match.
@@ -139,6 +158,6 @@ def _get_sample_rules(self):
         rule_api = RuleAPI(**RULE_3)
         rule_db = RuleAPI.to_model(rule_api)
         rule_db = Rule.add_or_update(rule_db)
-        rules.append(rule_db)
+        self.rules.append(rule_db)
 
-        return rules
+        return self.rules