Jquery - Return An Error In An Ajax Scenario From MVC Action?

I am using ASP.NET MVC with jquery. I have the following MVC Action that returns a partial page on Success. On Application Error, I am not sure what to send it for correctly handling it at the client side.

public ActionResult LoadFilterSet(int filterSetId)
{
try
{
BreadCrumbManager bcManager = this.ResetBreadCrumbManager(this.BreadCrumbManagerID);
GeneralHelper.LoadBreadCrumbManager(bcManager, filterSetId);
ViewData["BreadCrumbManager"] = bcManager;
return View("LoadFilterSet");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
return Content("");
}
}

Following is my jquery ajax call. Notice that I am checking for the data length to make sure there are no errors. Please suggest me a better way of doing this.

$.ajax({
type: "GET",
dataType: "html",
async: true,
data: ({ filterSetId: selectedId }),
url: link,
contentType: "text/html; charset=utf-8",
success: function(data, textStatus) {
if (data.length > 0) {
// Clear the local filters first.
clearLocalFilters();
$('td.selected-filters table.filters-display').append(data);
}
}
});