diff --git a/lib/libesp32/berry/src/be_parser.c b/lib/libesp32/berry/src/be_parser.c
index 3afedf41c..be001bf97 100644
--- a/lib/libesp32/berry/src/be_parser.c
+++ b/lib/libesp32/berry/src/be_parser.c
@@ -1571,15 +1571,11 @@ static void class_stmt(bparser *parser)
         begin_block(parser->finfo, &binfo, 0);
 
         bstring *class_str = parser_newstr(parser, "_class");   /* we always define `_class` local variable */
-        if (e.type == ETLOCAL) {
-            bexpdesc e1;                        /* if inline class, we add a second local variable for _class */
-            init_exp(&e1, ETLOCAL, 0);
-            e1.v.idx = new_localvar(parser, class_str);
-            be_code_setvar(parser->finfo, &e1, &e, 1);
-        } else {                                /* if global class, we just reuse the newly created class in the register */
-            init_exp(&e, ETLOCAL, 0);
-            e.v.idx = new_localvar(parser, class_str);
-        }
+        bexpdesc e1;                        /* if inline class, we add a second local variable for _class */
+        init_exp(&e1, ETLOCAL, 0);
+        e1.v.idx = new_localvar(parser, class_str);
+        be_code_setvar(parser->finfo, &e1, &e, 1);
+
         begin_varinfo(parser, class_str);
 
         class_block(parser, c, &e);
diff --git a/lib/libesp32/berry/tests/class_static.be b/lib/libesp32/berry/tests/class_static.be
index dbe8c222e..b56c5d282 100644
--- a/lib/libesp32/berry/tests/class_static.be
+++ b/lib/libesp32/berry/tests/class_static.be
@@ -155,3 +155,12 @@ assert(A.a == 1)
 assert(A.b == A)
 assert(A.c == [1, A])
 assert(A.f(1) == A)
+
+# bug when superclass is a member
+# the following would break with:
+#
+# attribute_error: class 'B' cannot assign to static attribute 'aa'
+# stack traceback:
+#     stdin:1: in function `main`
+class B end m = module('m') m.B = B
+class A : m.B static aa = 1 end