Judge Jon Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed with prejudice all claims in a proposed securities class action alleging that Cutera and certain of its current and former officers and directors made false and misleading statements about the company’s internal controls and the launch of Cutera’s novel laser-based acne treatment device, AviClear. Lead plaintiff New England Teamsters Pension Fund filed its amended complaint in 2024 after Cutera issued a restatement of certain financial results for 2023. Judge Tigar previously dismissed the litigation in September 2025, allowing plaintiffs to again amend their complaint.
In his May 11 ruling, Judge Tigar held that plaintiff still failed adequately to allege that the challenged statements were false or misleading and made with the requisite intent to defraud.
The Court rejected claims that defendants mislead investors about Cutera’s internal controls over financial reporting in SOX certifications and other public filings because plaintiff alleged no facts indicating that the statements were untrue at the time that they were made. Specifically, the court held that plaintiff failed to allege particularized facts demonstrating that defendants knew that their statements touting the success of and demand for AviClear were untrue. The court likewise rejected claims that the SOX certifications accompanying the Form 10-Qs that contained inaccurate financial results were false or misleading because plaintiff alleged no facts indicating that the defendants who signed those certifications knew about the inaccuracy or unreliability of those results at the time of signing.
As for the restated financials, the court ruled that the allegations of the second amended complaint failed adequately to plead that the defendant who reported the inaccurate financial results harbored fraudulent intent when he reported those figures.
The S&C team representing Cutera and the individual defendants included Brendan Cullen, Alexis Holmes, Bretton Laudeman and Natalie Palmberg.