ORANGE COUNTY

S&P; Asks to Be Freed From Bankruptcy Case: Standard & Poor’s Corp. is asking a bankruptcy judge in Orange County to dismiss the county lawsuit alleging that the credit rating company contributed to the county’s $1.64 billion in investment losses. The motion follows an August effort by Standard & Poor’s to move the county’s suit out of bankruptcy court, where it was filed in June, just before the county emerged from bankruptcy. A decision on that motion is pending in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana. The suit charges that S&P;, along with four other financial firms, ignored a professional responsibility to help prevent the investment losses. The losses, resulting from risky investments by former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron, caused the county to file for bankruptcy in December 1994. S&P; has denied the charges, saying county officials repeatedly misled the company by providing inaccurate information that it used as a basis for assigning credit ratings.