Bubba came by for an appointment to discuss his fire loss claim. It was one of those meetings that wasn’t on my calendar; he just stopped by “to see how things were goin'”.

When I told Bubba we needed to submit his receipts for ALE, he quietly spelled “a-l-e” to himself and suddenly asked, “you mean they’ll pay for my beer?” I explained to Bubba ALE is an abbreviation for additional living expense. Most homeowners’ policies have coverage for the extra expenses the insured will usually have living in a motel, eating out at restaurants, and using temporary facilities until their house can be repaired. After I finished the explanation, I could tell Bubba was trying hard to remember the money he had spent. Bubba isn’t much of a record keeper and his memory is sometimes rather short. He only recalled three expenses, $79.95 for his tent, $75.00 for three 100′ extension cords, and $0.78 for a new toothbrush.

This was the first time I have ever seen a tent submitted under the ALE provision of a policy for temporary housing (and our firm has defended quite a few fire claims) – in the end the tent was less expensive than a motel or rent house.

He probably had some other expenses, but Wewoka Worldwide, like most insurance companies, requires receipts, credit card bills, or some type of documentation.  Bubba found his receipts on the floor of his truck preserved amongst his other valuable papers, lottery tickets, traffic citations, and coupons for 20% off Bar-B-Q at the Wild Pig.