diff --git a/crates/deltalake-aws/src/lib.rs b/crates/deltalake-aws/src/lib.rs
index dd33854456..2630f80512 100644
--- a/crates/deltalake-aws/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/deltalake-aws/src/lib.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ pub mod logstore;
 pub mod storage;
 
 use lazy_static::lazy_static;
+use object_store::aws::AmazonS3ConfigKey;
 use regex::Regex;
 use std::{
     collections::HashMap,
@@ -41,6 +42,17 @@ impl LogStoreFactory for S3LogStoreFactory {
         options: &StorageOptions,
     ) -> DeltaResult<Arc<dyn LogStore>> {
         let store = url_prefix_handler(store, Path::parse(location.path())?)?;
+
+        if options
+            .0
+            .contains_key(AmazonS3ConfigKey::CopyIfNotExists.as_ref())
+        {
+            debug!("S3LogStoreFactory has been asked to create a LogStore where the underlying store has copy-if-not-exists enabled - no locking provider required");
+            return Ok(deltalake_core::logstore::default_logstore(
+                store, location, options,
+            ));
+        }
+
         let s3_options = S3StorageOptions::from_map(&options.0);
 
         if s3_options.locking_provider.as_deref() != Some("dynamodb") {
diff --git a/crates/deltalake-aws/src/storage.rs b/crates/deltalake-aws/src/storage.rs
index b71d17bb64..87d488b54f 100644
--- a/crates/deltalake-aws/src/storage.rs
+++ b/crates/deltalake-aws/src/storage.rs
@@ -56,7 +56,16 @@ impl ObjectStoreFactory for S3ObjectStoreFactory {
             }),
         )?;
 
+        if options
+            .0
+            .contains_key(AmazonS3ConfigKey::CopyIfNotExists.as_ref())
+        {
+            // If the copy-if-not-exists env var is set, we don't need to instantiate a locking client or check for allow-unsafe-rename.
+            return Ok((Arc::from(store), prefix));
+        }
+
         let options = S3StorageOptions::from_map(&options.0);
+
         let store = S3StorageBackend::try_new(
             store.into(),
             Some("dynamodb") == options.locking_provider.as_deref() || options.allow_unsafe_rename,
diff --git a/crates/deltalake-core/src/kernel/actions/types.rs b/crates/deltalake-core/src/kernel/actions/types.rs
index 3dc177fb5b..f9a2eb9909 100644
--- a/crates/deltalake-core/src/kernel/actions/types.rs
+++ b/crates/deltalake-core/src/kernel/actions/types.rs
@@ -632,6 +632,7 @@ pub struct Remove {
     /// [RFC 2396 URI Generic Syntax], which needs to be decoded to get the data file path.
     ///
     /// [RFC 2396 URI Generic Syntax]: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt
+    #[serde(with = "serde_path")]
     pub path: String,
 
     /// When `false` the logical file must already be present in the table or the records
diff --git a/crates/deltalake-core/src/table/state.rs b/crates/deltalake-core/src/table/state.rs
index 03483ef8ff..061abac6af 100644
--- a/crates/deltalake-core/src/table/state.rs
+++ b/crates/deltalake-core/src/table/state.rs
@@ -363,9 +363,11 @@ impl DeltaTableState {
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
+
     use super::*;
     use crate::kernel::Txn;
     use pretty_assertions::assert_eq;
+    use serde_json::json;
 
     #[test]
     fn state_round_trip() {
@@ -414,4 +416,34 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(2, *state.app_transaction_version().get("abc").unwrap());
         assert_eq!(1, *state.app_transaction_version().get("xyz").unwrap());
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_merging_deserialized_special_tombstones_and_files_paths() {
+        let add = serde_json::from_value(json!({
+            "path": "x=A%252FA/part-00016-94175338-2acc-40c2-a68a-d08ba677975f.c000.snappy.parquet",
+            "partitionValues": {"x": "A/A"},
+            "size": 460,
+            "modificationTime": 1631873480,
+            "dataChange": true
+        }))
+        .unwrap();
+
+        let remove = serde_json::from_value(json!({
+            "path": "x=A%252FA/part-00016-94175338-2acc-40c2-a68a-d08ba677975f.c000.snappy.parquet",
+            "deletionTimestamp": 1631873481,
+            "partitionValues": {"x": "A/A"},
+            "size": 460,
+            "modificationTime": 1631873481,
+            "dataChange": true
+        }))
+        .unwrap();
+
+        let state = DeltaTableState::from_actions(vec![Action::Add(add)], 0).unwrap();
+        let state_next = DeltaTableState::from_actions(vec![Action::Remove(remove)], 1).unwrap();
+
+        let mut merged_state = state.clone();
+        merged_state.merge(state_next, true, true);
+
+        assert_eq!(merged_state.files().len(), 0);
+    }
 }