An attorney is strongly disputing new legal claims from a firm managing part of the Medicaid program in Kansas and its parent company that a former executive tried to extort money from them after being fired.

Attorney Lewis Galloway on Monday called the allegations against former executive Jacqueline Leary “paper thin.” Galloway represents her.

Sunflower State Health Plan Inc. and its parent, Centene Corp., made the claims in responding to a federal lawsuit filed in late October by Leary.

She alleges that she was wrongfully fired in January as a vice president for Sunflower after protesting potentially improper cost-cutting measures for Medicaid in Kansas.

The companies said in court documents that she sought $3 million from them in February. Galloway said the demand was an attempt at a legal settlement.