Activist investor J. Daniel Plants resigns from Cutera's board

Cutera CUTR said on Friday activist investor J. Daniel Plants has resigned from its board of directors, effective immediately, due to disagreements with board members and the company.

Plants, who has served on Cutera's board for eight years, said in a letter his resignation was a direct result of "numerous and irreconcilable disagreements" with the board.

The company in April had terminated its CEO David Mowry and Plants as its executive chairman for alleged violations of their employment contracts.

Mowry and Plants have squared off publicly with the aesthetics device maker in recent months over how the board was handling succession plans for the former CEO, who had said in January he wanted to leave.

This prompted other investors, including its second largest shareholder RTW Investments and hedge fund Pura Vida to call on the California-based company to resolve its differences.

According to recent regulatory filings, RTW holds a 9.3% stake and Pura Vida has a 6.16% stake in Cutera.

Mowry and Plants had in April initially called for a special meeting to allow investors to vote on board candidates.

However, Cutera said last month it had resolved its dispute with Mowry and later canceled the scheduled special meeting after Plants and Mowry withdrew their demands for the same.