jQuery Ajax error handling, show custom exception messages

Is there some way I can show custom exception messages as an alert in my jQuery AJAX error message?

For example, if I want to throw an exception on the server side via Struts by throw new ApplicationException("User name already exists");, I want to catch this message ('user name already exists') in the jQuery AJAX error message.

jQuery("#save").click(function () {
  if (jQuery('#form').jVal()) {
    jQuery.ajax({
      type: "POST",
      url: "saveuser.do",
      dataType: "html",
      data: "userId=" + encodeURIComponent(trim(document.forms[0].userId.value)),
      success: function (response) {
        jQuery("#usergrid").trigger("reloadGrid");
        clear();

        alert("Details saved successfully!!!");
      },
      error: function (xhr, ajaxOptions, thrownError) {
        alert(xhr.status);
        alert(thrownError);
      }
    });
  }
});

On the second alert, where I alert the thrown error, I am getting undefined and the status code is 500.

I am not sure where I am going wrong. What can I do to fix this problem?