A regional court in the southern city of Krakow on Tuesday cleared the U.S. tobacco company Philip Morris and France's Seita of liability in causing lung cancer and the death of a Polish woman.

Slawomir Lubicz-Sieniecki, 43, was seeking Zl 10 Million (euro 2.5 Million, $ 2.4 Million) in damages from the companies for causing "dependence on the cigarettes, the illness and suffering of his mother and himself, as well as compensation for expenses for his mother's treatment and burial" . The court ruled that the plaintiff "did not prove that the death of his mother was caused by the actions of the cigarette manufacturers as cited in the complaint". Instead, Lubicz-Sieniecki, a psycho-therapist who treats drug addicts, was ordered to pay the tobacco companies 6,000 zlotys to cover their legal expenses. The case, which began in December last year, was the first in which an individual in Poland tried to sue a tobacco company for smoking-related illness or death.