Pulliam v. State

LISA WHITE HARDWICK, Judge.

This appeal arises from the Division of Aging’s denial of an attorney’s fee award to Andrea Pulliam, after she prevailed in an employee disqualification list proceeding. We reverse the denial because the Division failed to prove it was substantially justified in seeking to disqualify Pulliam from future employment.

Factual and Procedural Background

In 1997, Andrea Pulliam began working as the licensed administrator of the George Nettleton Home, a fifty-bed skilled nursing facility in Kansas City. In December of that year, an elderly resident of the home developed an…