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Mistrial on
Firefighters' Harassment Claim

Mistrial on
Firefighters' Harassment Claim

Four San Diego firefighters who sued their city for being ordered to participate in the 2007 gay pride parade will not receive damages after a jury was unable to reach a verdict.

Four San Diego firefighters who sued their city after being ordered to participate in the 2007 gay pride parade will not receive damages after a San Diego County superior court jury was unable to reach a verdict. The jury deliberated almost four days before announcing a deadlock, according to the Los Angeles Times.

One juror told reporters that they were one vote short of getting the required nine votes needed to decide a civil case. The jury would have favored the firefighters.

Charles LiMandri, who represented John Ghiotto, Jason Hewitt, Alex Kane, and Chad Allison, said the outcome was "extremely frustrating." A new trial has been set for January.

The four claim they were sexually harassed by parade watchers, including a group of "radical homosexual men" dressed in nuns' habits and others who yelled, "You're making me hot!" and "I can't breathe, give me mouth-to-mouth!" One firefighter, Hewitt, also said he received a poor performance review after filing a complaint about the parade, the Associated Press reported. The jury rejected that claim by an 11-1 vote.

While the lawsuit did not specify how much they sought in damages, LiMandri asked the jury to award between $500,000 to $1 million to each firefighter.

City attorney Michael Aguirre said the lawsuit was about greed. However, Ghiotto told the Times, "It was never about any money." He also said, "For me, I believe it was a win because we stood up for what we believe in." (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)

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