INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two men who were detained by police after a pizza delivery driver falsely accused one of them of pulling a gun can proceed with a lawsuit against the worker and Papa John's USA Inc., the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled.

The three-judge panel said a Hamilton County judge erred when she entered a summary judgment against Thomas Williams and Sanford Kelsey. The panel ordered the case scheduled for trial.

"We are extremely pleased with the Court of Appeals decision," said Arend Abel, attorney for Kelsey and Williams. "My clients are anxious to get their day in court, so that a Hamilton County jury can right the wrong they suffered."

Kelsey and Williams, who are black, have wondered if race was a factor in what occurred and in their brief said that was something for jurors to consider.

According to court documents, the two men had bought a pizza at a Papa John's restaurant in Westfield and had left when delivery driver Kelly Tharp reported to police that one of the men had pulled out a gun and gave an officer the license number of the men's car.

Williams, a tax attorney, and Williams, a dental lab manager, had just returned to Williams' home when they were surrounded by police.

Officers ordered the men out of the car at gunpoint and told them to get on their knees. They were handcuffed and detained for an hour and a half while officers investigated. No gun was found.

An officer who stood where Tharp said he had been standing when he saw the gun determined that Tharp couldn't have seen what he claimed to see, court records said. No other employees said they saw a gun.

Tharp also gave police his father's name and Social Security number rather than his own and left the scene after police asked him to stay, court documents said.

Tharp was later found serving a sentence for fraud in a Kentucky prison and was returned to Indiana to face charges of false crime reporting and false informing.

Attorneys for Tharp and Papa John's did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

Kelsey and Johnson sued Tharp and Papa John's for defamation, false imprisonment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. However, Hamilton Circuit Judge Judith Proffitt entered a summary judgment in favor of Tharp and Papa John's. Proffitt accepted the argument of Papa John's representatives that he had been mistaken about what he saw and that neither he nor the corporation could be held liable.

In her ruling, Proffitt noted that Tharp said he had seen a man pull a gun from a holster on his stomach, and Kelsey had been wearing a fanny pack on the front of his waist out of which he had pulled a wallet.

"The fact that Mr. Kelsey did not actually have a gun does not make Tharp's belief that he had a gun extreme or outrageous," the judge said in her ruling.

The Court of Appeals disagreed with Proffitt in its ruling Friday. Among other things, it said there were questions as to whether Tharp had been mistaken or lied that should be up to a jury to decide.

"There were genuine issues of fact as to whether Tharp's conduct was extreme and outrageous and whether he acted intentionally or recklessly," the ruling said.

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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com