diff --git a/binder/src/test/java/io/grpc/binder/internal/PendingAuthListenerTest.java b/binder/src/test/java/io/grpc/binder/internal/PendingAuthListenerTest.java
index 9cdf123033b..868a774689c 100644
--- a/binder/src/test/java/io/grpc/binder/internal/PendingAuthListenerTest.java
+++ b/binder/src/test/java/io/grpc/binder/internal/PendingAuthListenerTest.java
@@ -1,22 +1,39 @@
 package io.grpc.binder.internal;
 
 import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
-import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
-import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertThrows;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoInteractions;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
+import io.grpc.CallOptions;
+import io.grpc.Channel;
+import io.grpc.ClientCall;
+import io.grpc.ClientInterceptor;
+import io.grpc.ForwardingClientCall;
+import io.grpc.ForwardingClientCallListener;
+import io.grpc.ManagedChannel;
 import io.grpc.Metadata;
+import io.grpc.MethodDescriptor;
+import io.grpc.Server;
 import io.grpc.ServerCall;
 import io.grpc.ServerCallHandler;
+import io.grpc.ServerInterceptor;
+import io.grpc.ServerServiceDefinition;
 import io.grpc.Status;
+import io.grpc.StatusRuntimeException;
+import io.grpc.inprocess.InProcessChannelBuilder;
+import io.grpc.inprocess.InProcessServerBuilder;
+import io.grpc.stub.ClientCalls;
+import io.grpc.stub.ServerCalls;
+import io.grpc.testing.GrpcCleanupRule;
+import io.grpc.testing.TestMethodDescriptors;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.time.Duration;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 import org.junit.runners.JUnit4;
-import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
-import org.mockito.Captor;
 import org.mockito.InOrder;
 import org.mockito.Mock;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
@@ -26,12 +43,15 @@
 @RunWith(JUnit4.class)
 public final class PendingAuthListenerTest {
 
+  private static final MethodDescriptor<Void, Void> TEST_METHOD =
+      TestMethodDescriptors.voidMethod();
+
   @Rule public final MockitoRule mocks = MockitoJUnit.rule();
+  @Rule public final GrpcCleanupRule grpcCleanupRule = new GrpcCleanupRule();
 
   @Mock ServerCallHandler<Object, Object> next;
   @Mock ServerCall<Object, Object> call;
   @Mock ServerCall.Listener<Object> delegate;
-  @Captor ArgumentCaptor<Status> statusCaptor;
 
   private final Metadata headers = new Metadata();
   private final PendingAuthListener<Object, Object> listener = new PendingAuthListener<>();
@@ -86,16 +106,80 @@ public void onCallbacks_withCancellation_runsPendingCallbacksAfterStartCall() {
   }
 
   @Test
-  public void whenStartCallFails_closesTheCallWithInternalStatus() {
-    IllegalStateException exception = new IllegalStateException("oops");
-    when(next.startCall(any(), any())).thenThrow(exception);
-
-    listener.onReady();
-    listener.startCall(call, headers, next);
+  public void whenStartCallFails_closesTheCallWithInternalStatus() throws Exception {
+    // Arrange
+    ServerCallHandler<Void, Void> callHandler =
+        ServerCalls.asyncUnaryCall(
+            (req, respObserver) -> {
+              throw new IllegalStateException("ooops");
+            });
+    ManagedChannel channel = startServer(callHandler);
+
+    // Act
+    StatusRuntimeException ex =
+        assertThrows(
+            StatusRuntimeException.class,
+            () ->
+                ClientCalls.blockingUnaryCall(
+                    channel,
+                    TEST_METHOD,
+                    CallOptions.DEFAULT.withDeadlineAfter(Duration.ofSeconds(5)),
+                    /* request= */ null));
+
+    // Assert
+    assertThat(ex.getStatus().getCode()).isEqualTo(Status.Code.INTERNAL);
+  }
 
-    verify(call).close(statusCaptor.capture(), any());
-    Status status = statusCaptor.getValue();
-    assertThat(status.getCode()).isEqualTo(Status.Code.INTERNAL);
-    assertThat(status.getCause()).isSameInstanceAs(exception);
+  private ManagedChannel startServer(ServerCallHandler<Void, Void> callHandler) throws IOException {
+    String name = TestMethodDescriptors.SERVICE_NAME;
+    ServerServiceDefinition serviceDef =
+        ServerServiceDefinition.builder(name).addMethod(TEST_METHOD, callHandler).build();
+    Server server =
+        InProcessServerBuilder.forName(name)
+            .addService(serviceDef)
+            .intercept(
+                new ServerInterceptor() {
+                  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+                  @Override
+                  public <ReqT, RespT> ServerCall.Listener<ReqT> interceptCall(
+                      ServerCall<ReqT, RespT> call,
+                      Metadata headers,
+                      ServerCallHandler<ReqT, RespT> next) {
+
+                    listener.startCall(
+                        (ServerCall<Object, Object>) call,
+                        headers,
+                        (ServerCallHandler<Object, Object>) next);
+                    return (ServerCall.Listener<ReqT>) listener;
+                  }
+                })
+            .build()
+            .start();
+    ManagedChannel channel =
+        InProcessChannelBuilder.forName(name)
+            .intercept(
+                new ClientInterceptor() {
+                  @Override
+                  public <ReqT, RespT> ClientCall<ReqT, RespT> interceptCall(
+                      MethodDescriptor<ReqT, RespT> method, CallOptions callOptions, Channel next) {
+                    ClientCall<ReqT, RespT> delegate = next.newCall(method, callOptions);
+                    return new ForwardingClientCall.SimpleForwardingClientCall<ReqT, RespT>(
+                        delegate) {
+                      @Override
+                      public void start(Listener<RespT> responseListener, Metadata headers) {
+                        ClientCall.Listener<RespT> wrappedListener =
+                            new ForwardingClientCallListener.SimpleForwardingClientCallListener<
+                                RespT>(responseListener) {};
+                        super.start(wrappedListener, headers);
+                      }
+                    };
+                  }
+                })
+            .build();
+
+    grpcCleanupRule.register(server);
+    grpcCleanupRule.register(channel);
+
+    return channel;
   }
 }
diff --git a/testing/src/main/java/io/grpc/testing/TestMethodDescriptors.java b/testing/src/main/java/io/grpc/testing/TestMethodDescriptors.java
index 5ffc60e369b..c53d872c49f 100644
--- a/testing/src/main/java/io/grpc/testing/TestMethodDescriptors.java
+++ b/testing/src/main/java/io/grpc/testing/TestMethodDescriptors.java
@@ -30,16 +30,19 @@
 public final class TestMethodDescriptors {
   private TestMethodDescriptors() {}
 
+  /** The name of the service that the method returned by {@link #voidMethod()} uses. */
+  public static final String SERVICE_NAME = "service_foo";
+
   /**
    * Creates a new method descriptor that always creates zero length messages, and always parses to
-   * null objects.
+   * null objects. It is part of the service named {@link #SERVICE_NAME}.
    *
    * @since 1.1.0
    */
   public static MethodDescriptor<Void, Void> voidMethod() {
     return MethodDescriptor.<Void, Void>newBuilder()
         .setType(MethodType.UNARY)
-        .setFullMethodName(MethodDescriptor.generateFullMethodName("service_foo", "method_bar"))
+        .setFullMethodName(MethodDescriptor.generateFullMethodName(SERVICE_NAME, "method_bar"))
         .setRequestMarshaller(TestMethodDescriptors.voidMarshaller())
         .setResponseMarshaller(TestMethodDescriptors.voidMarshaller())
         .build();