Lawrence Zucker, an HP shareholder, was so disgusted by the $40 million in severance the company's board gave to Mark Hurd that he sued.
But yesterday, a judge dismissed the lawsuit, reports Reuters.
In a 30-page opinion on the case, the judge noted that the amount "may appear extremely rich or altogether distasteful to some."
Nevertheless, he found that the HP board was acting in good faith and that this big, fat chunk of money could also be considered payment for past service and for all the help Hurd gave to the new CEO, Léo Apotheker.
(We know how well that worked out! Apotheker was fired after less than a year.)
Plus, Hurd was also supposed to keep HP's secrets as he took on the No. 2 role at Oracle, and so the judge found it fair that the HP board compensated him for that.
Never mind that HP sued Oracle after it hired Hurd, and the companies are still wrangling over other matters in court.
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