Doctor sues after being cited for online ‘harassment’ of former UI colleagues

A former Iowa physician is suing a police detective who cited her for harassment after she publicly posted comments that she was “coming after” a former University of Iowa Hospitals colleague, who she called a “blue-eyed Hitler look alike.”

Dr. Ji Eun Lee is suing Detective Ian Mallory of the University of Iowa Police Department in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

In her lawsuit, Lee asserts that “university campuses should be a place where the value of free speech is upheld. However, at the University of Iowa, speech is tolerated only when it does not offend others.”

The lawsuit describes Lee as a medical doctor and “former U of I resident physician who was frustrated by the behavior of her former colleagues and leadership failures that permitted that behavior to go unpunished.” It alleges she “took to social media to share her frustrations” and that Mallory then later cited Lee for harassment when she continued to post such comments.

The lawsuit claims none of the speech that led to the charge amounts to a “true threat,” and because of that, the U.S. Constitution does not permit punishment of such comments with criminal charges.

Lee included some of her own social media posts, some of which aren’t dated, as exhibits in her lawsuit against Mallory, including the following:

Iowa Board of Medicine records indicate Lee’s license to practice in Iowa expired in June 2020, with no public record of discipline.

Lawsuit seeks punitive damages

In her lawsuit, Lee alleges that while working at UIHC, she came to believe other residents and supervisor physicians engaged in and tolerated disability discrimination and racism against minority resident physicians. Lee alleges she later used Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, to make comments that, “while direct and disparaging, did not threaten violence.”

On Dec. 19, 2022, Mallory received a report that Lee had made “online threats” to UIHC employees. The lawsuit alleges that Mallory’s summary report of his investigation states that “Dr. Lee’s writings were largely within the bounds of free speech but occasionally there were references to, ‘I’ll get you and your family’ directed towards some employees.”

On Jan. 14, 2023, Mallory sent Lee, then living in the Los Angeles area, a harassment warning by certified mail. In October 2023, the lawsuit claims, Lee decided to begin posting on social media about her dissatisfaction with various UIHC personnel. When Mallory learned of this, he called Lee and warned her that if she communicated with her former colleagues by posting comments about them on Twitter she would be criminally charged with harassment.

Lee continued to post about her former colleagues at UIHC and, her lawsuit claims, also posted a comment tied to the University of Iowa Police Department and its warning, stating, “I am not in the least bit threatened by this.”

On Nov. 9, 2023, Mallory filed a criminal complaint with the Johnson County Clerk of Court charging Lee with harassment. In July 2024, the lawsuit claims, Lee learned there was a warrant for her arrest and hired an attorney who moved to dismiss the charge.

District Associate Judge Brandon Schrock granted the motion in an order dated May 30, 2025, ruling the criminal complaint “simply fails to allege conduct that would satisfy the elements of harassment” as outlined in Iowa law. The criminal complaint, Schrock found, “fails to state any facts which could be construed as intended to threaten, intimidate or alarm any of the prospective victims in this matter.”

While one post from Lee was alleged to constitute a true threat — the Oct. 30, 2022, ” I am coming after you” post — Schrock noted that it had been posted more than a year before the criminal charge was filed on Nov. 10, 2023, and so it fell outside the statute of limitations for a simple misdemeanor.

The lawsuit alleges Mallory charged Lee with harassment “simply because she disobeyed” his warning to stop posting harassing comments about her former colleagues. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for violations of Lee’s First and 14th Amendment rights.

Mallory could not be reached for comment Monday and has yet to file a response to the lawsuit.

Court records indicate Lee graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine in 2017, receiving her M.D. degree there. She then began an internship and residency in family medicine at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Lee left the UIHC residency program in 2019 and two years later, completed a family medicine residency program at Michigan State University. She is currently employed at a hospital in the greater Los Angeles area and, according to her lawsuit, she is currently licensed to practice medicine in California.

In her lawsuit, Lee is represented by Alan R. Ostergren of Iowa’s Kirkwood Institute, a self-described “conservative public-interest law firm.” The institute describes itself as “nonpartisan” and has been recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt public charity.

This story was first published by Iowa Capital Dispatch.