Gov. Chris Christie lost an appeal to have an official misconduct complaint regarding the Bridgegate scandal thrown out on Wednesday, but a new probable cause hearing will be held.

State Superior Court Judge Bonnie Mizdol has given the go-ahead to investigate Christie for possible official misconduct, but a new probable cause hearing will be held four months after another judge ruled on the matter, according to court documents. A date for the hearing hasn't been set yet, but Christie has agreed to appear in court to dispute the charge.

The matter came out of testimony in a September trial that suggested Christie knew all about Bridgegate while the political payback scheme was happening — and he knew why it was being done. Christie knew that his associates were involved in a plan to shut down lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge and that the closings were intended to punish the Fort Lee mayor for declining to support his 2013 reelection bid, according to testimony from the trial.

In September, Judge Roy F. McGeady had found probable cause to investigate a complaint of official misconduct against Christie related to the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal. Mizdol, however, ruled that "the denial of counsel prevented the court from engaging in a proper evaluation of the evidence." McGeady had said he was "satisfied that there's probable cause to believe that an event of official misconduct was caused by Gov. Christie" and issued a summons. The complaint was filed by Bill Brennan, a retired Teaneck firefighter and citizen activist.

The governor's office had vowed to immediately appeal the ruling.

"This is a dishonorable complaint filed by a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system," Christie spokesman Brian Murray said in a statement. "The simple fact is the governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening. This matter has already been thoroughly investigated by three separate independent investigations."

The two indicted Bridgegate conspirators, Bridget Anne Kelly, the governor's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, the top Christie executive appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were convicted of charges brought in the trial.

David Wildstein, the Christie-appointed Port Authority official also behind Bridgegate, has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy.