diff --git a/utils/utils.py b/utils/utils.py
index 4ae1cc91..cafd1252 100755
--- a/utils/utils.py
+++ b/utils/utils.py
@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ def load_classes(path):
     """
     Loads class labels at 'path'
     """
-    fp = open(path, 'r')
-    names = fp.read().split('\n')[:-1]
-    return names
+    fp = open('data/coco.names', 'r')
+    names = fp.read().split('\n')
+    return list(filter(None, names))  # filter removes empty strings (such as last line)
 
 
 def model_info(model):  # Plots a line-by-line description of a PyTorch model