Contingencies (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Contingencies

The table below lists the number of certain tobacco-related cases pending in the United States against PM USA and, in some instances, Altria as of October 22, 2018, October 23, 2017 and October 24, 2016:

	October 22, 2018	October 23, 2017	October 24, 2016
Individual Smoking and Health Cases (1)	101	87	66
Smoking and Health Class Actions and Aggregated Claims Litigation (2)	2	4	5
Health Care Cost Recovery Actions (3)	1	1	1
“Lights/Ultra Lights” Class Actions	2	4	9

⁽¹⁾Includes 29 cases filed in Massachusetts and 38 non-Engle cases filed in Florida. Does not include individual smoking and health cases brought by or on behalf of plaintiffs in Florida state and federal courts following the decertification of the Engle case (these Engle progeny cases are discussed below in Smoking and Health Litigation - Engle Class Action). Also does not include 1,491 cases brought by flight attendants seeking compensatory damages for personal injuries allegedly caused by exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (“ETS”). The flight attendants allege that they are members of an ETS smoking and health class action in Florida, which was settled in 1997 (Broin). The terms of the court-approved settlement in that case allowed class members to file individual lawsuits seeking compensatory damages, but prohibited them from seeking punitive damages. In March 2018, 923 of these cases were voluntarily dismissed without prejudice.

⁽²⁾ The 2016 and 2017 pending cases include as one case the 30 civil actions that were to be tried in six consolidated trials in West Virginia (In re: Tobacco Litigation). PM USA was a defendant in nine of the 30 cases. The parties resolved these cases for an immaterial amount and in the second quarter of 2018, the court dismissed all 30 cases.

⁽³⁾See Health Care Cost Recovery Litigation - Federal Government’s Lawsuit below.

The changes in Altria’s accrued liability for tobacco and health litigation items, including related interest costs, for the periods specified below are as follows:

	For the Nine Months Ended September 30,						For the Three Months Ended September 30,
	2018			2017			2018			2017
	(in millions)
Accrued liability for tobacco and health litigation items at beginning of period (1)	$	106		$	47		$	107		$	47
Pre-tax charges for:
Tobacco and health litigation	104			16			20			—
Related interest costs	15			2			1			—
Payments (1)	(118		)	(18		)	(21		)	—
Accrued liability for tobacco and health litigation items at end of period (1)	$	107		$	47		$	107		$	47

⁽¹⁾Includes amounts related to the costs of implementing the corrective communications remedy related to the Federal Government’s Lawsuit discussed below.