A federal judge in San Jose has ruled that an investigation of Mark Hurd’s departure from Hewlett-Packard Co. can go forward.

U.S. District Judge James Ware cancelled a hearing scheduled for today to let the company begin a probe into the matter and halted the lawsuit that prompted it for 45 days. Ware rescheduled the hearing for March 21 and asked for an update on the investigation by that time.