// < Laravel 5.5 use formatErrors

$errors = $validator->messages()->toArray();

foreach ($errors as $error => $message) {
     // Check if error should be an array
    if (strpos($error, '.')) {
        // Ex: {parent}.0
        $parent = explode('.', $error)[0];

        // Ex: items.{nth}
        $nth = explode('.', $error)[1];

        // Delete the string-key array error
        // Ex: 'phones.0'
        unset($errors[$error]);
        $errors[$parent][$nth] = $message[0];
    } else {
        $errors[$error] = $message[0];
    }
}

// This sorts array errors
// to make sure the return response
// is an array, not a number-based object.
// Ex: { '1': 'error', '0': {} }
// This just ensures consistency because
// it can mess up the front-end
foreach($errors as $key => $message) {
    if (is_array($message)) {
        ksort($errors[$key]);
    }
}