SAN DIEGO -- A jury deadlocked Monday on claims by four San Diego firefighters that they were sexually harassed after being ordered to participate in last year's gay pride parade.

Jurors also rejected a claim by one of the firefighters that he was retaliated against in his efforts to be promoted to captain, which he ultimately attained.

After four days of deliberations, Judge Michael Anello declared a mistrial on the sexual harassment claims by firefighters John Ghiotto, Jason Hewitt, Chad Allison and Alex Kane.

Two alternate panelists were put on the panel this morning when two deliberating jurors took ill.

Juror Helene Matthews told reporters she thought the firefighters' sexual harassment claims were valid.

"I felt they were wronged," Matthews said.

The jury foreperson, Susan Wolking, said she was disappointed in the mistrial.

"I would have liked to have had the plaintiffs prevail," Wolking said.

City Attorney Michael Aguirre called the mistrial and verdict on the retaliation claim a "complete and total victory" for the city.

The plaintiffs had asked the jury to award them $500,000 to $1 million each in damages.

"This was about greed," Aguirre told reporters. "This was about getting money in their pockets."

Aguirre also alleged that gay people were systematically excluded from serving on the jury.

But Charles Limandri, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said he was eager to pursue the case.

A retrial was set for Jan. 16.

"This is just an unfortunate delay," Limandri said outside court.

Limandri said the firefighters should not have been made to participate in a political event.

"You cannot make somebody participate, thereby endorse messages that they may not agree with," Limandri said.

He said the firefighters were called names and subjected to cat-calls, hostile language and sexually explicit acts by scantily clad parade attendees on July 21, 2007.

The firefighters, who were assigned to a station in the Hillcrest neighborhood, where the parade took place, were ordered to take part when another crew backed out the night before the event.

Hewitt, now a captain, claimed his supervisors retaliated against him for bringing the suit by giving him low marks while he was trying to get his promotion.

Chief Deputy City Attorney Maria Severson suggested the plaintiffs caused their own stress by going public with their complaint and filing an action.

The plaintiffs were required -- as part of their job -- to be in the parade representing the fire department if asked, Severson said in her closing argument.

She said the fire department makes every effort to get volunteers to participate in parades, but when that doesn't work, staff are assigned to take part.

The firefighters were treated like "rock stars" for most of the parade, except for a small portion of the event, Severson told the jury.

She argued there was no sexual harassment suffered by the plaintiffs because there was no physical touching and no threat of physical touching.