CINCINNATI—The board of directors of LCA-Vision (Nasdaq: LCAV) last week rejected a suggestion from a group headed by Stephen Joffe, MD, the company’s founder and former chairman, that members of that group be given a spot on the board as well as a management position with the refractive surgery firm.

In a letter to the Joffe group sent Dec. 10, LCA-Vision board chairman E. Anthony Woods said the board “does not agree with [the group’s] description of the company's condition as ‘dire’ or its prognosis as ‘poor.’” Noting that the three group members—Joffe; his son Craig, a former chief operating officer and interim chief executive officer of LCA-Vision; and Alan Buckey, who stepped down as the company’s chief financial officer in June—had each resigned from LCA-Vision voluntarily but were now seeking new positions with the company and/or its board, Woods stated, “It seems to the board for you to request such appointments is disingenuous after previously abandoning the company.”

Woods concluded his letter by commenting, “Your recent letter writing campaign has become a distraction to executing our strategic plan. Thus, we do not intend to respond to your letters individually, as they tend to repeat certain themes with which we don't agree.”

The takeover attempt by the Joffe group, which together owns 11.4 percent of LCA-Vision’s common stock, started when the two Joffes and Buckey sent a letter to LCA-Vision’s board chairman on Nov. 21 saying they felt “financially, ethically and reputationally compelled to help rescue LCAV before it implodes.”

LCA-Vision’s board of directors moved quickly to block Joffe’s move, late in November adopting a “stockholder rights plan” that would provide a so-called “poison pill” defense in the event of a takeover attempt. Last week, the Joffe group sent another letter to the board asking it to quickly schedule a special shareholders meeting to vote on that plan; the board also rejected that request.