Android app crashes when trying to connect to CC receiver

Some of our users are experiencing issues with connection to the Chromecast receiver. When they select a CC device in the app from the list of available devices the app crashes. Here is the stacktrace of the crash, but Googles SDK seems so cryptic that we have no idea of what the actual code is calling.

Fatal Exception: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke interface method 'void com.google.android.gms.internal.cast.zzlp.zzhv()' on a null object reference
       at com.google.android.gms.internal.cast.zzmd.zza + 3(zzmd.java:3)
       at com.google.android.gms.internal.cast.zzmw.zze + 2519(zzmw.java:2519)
       at com.google.android.gms.internal.cast.zzlg$zzb.zzjd + 22(zzlg.java:22)
       at com.google.android.gms.internal.cast.zzlg$zzb.zzjf + 40(zzlg.java:40)
       at com.google.android.gms.internal.cast.zzlg$zzb.zzje + 25(zzlg.java:25)
       at com.google.android.gms.internal.cast.zzlg$zzb.zzjg + 41(zzlg.java:41)
       at com.google.android.gms.internal.cast.zzbc.zzb + 21(zzbc.java:21)
       at com.google.android.gms.internal.cast.zzba.onSessionResuming + 25(zzba.java:25)
       at com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.zzag.zzb + 35(zzag.java:35)
       at com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.zzz.dispatchTransaction + 37(zzz.java:37)
       at com.google.android.gms.internal.cast.zza.onTransact + 13(zza.java:13)
       at android.os.Binder.transact + 675(Binder.java:675)
       at kk.b + 13(kk.java:13)
       at sf.b + 28(sf.java:28)
       at sr.b + 31(sr.java:31)
       at ss.a + 89(ss.java:89)
       at rb.b + 8(rb.java:8)
       at st.handleMessage + 12(st.java:12)
       at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage + 108(Handler.java:108)
       at zy.dispatchMessage + 5(zy.java:5)
       at android.os.Looper.loop + 216(Looper.java:216)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.main + 7625(ActivityThread.java:7625)
       at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java)
       at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run + 524(RuntimeInit.java:524)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main + 987(ZygoteInit.java:987)

Here is some more info on the SDK and versions: Project Android versions:

compileSdk: 28
buildTools: "28.0.3"
minSdk    : 21
targetSdk : 28

Dependencies for CC:

com.google.android.gms:play-services-cast-framework:17.1.0
androidx.mediarouter:mediarouter:1.1.0

We use androidx extensions(Jetpack) with koin and livedata:

implementation "org.koin:koin-android:1.0.2"
implementation "org.koin:koin-androidx-viewmodel:1.0.2"
implementation "org.koin:koin-androidx-scope:1.0.2"
implementation "androidx.core:core-ktx:1.1.0"
implementation "androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-extensions:2.1.0"
implementation "androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-ktx:2.1.0"
implementation "androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-livedata:2.1.0"

I should note that the stacktrace is originating from kk.java class, but other devices have another name like lp.java or ke.java. This is most probably because of different Google play-services implementations.

Any help would be appreciated :-)