I have a strange situation: If the "Require Check Out" and "Create Major Versions" options are switched on for the current Document Library, then when I try to get the CheckOutType property I receive the exception shown below.

> item.File.CheckOutType	'item.File.CheckOutType'
> threw an exception of type
> 'System.NullReferenceException'	Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFile.SPCheckOutType
> {System.NullReferenceException}

Does anyone know the cause of this issue?