G.D. v. Kenny

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The primary issue in this case is whether criminal-conviction information, truthfully reported in campaign flyers, is civilly actionable when the conviction is the subject of an expungement order. The secondary issue is whether the “facts” contained in the flyers are sufficiently accurate to merit protection against claims for defamation and related privacy torts.

During a primary contest for State Senate, opponents of candidate Brian Stack issued campaign flyers criticizing him for previously hiring a person with a criminal conviction, plaintiff G.D. One campaign flyer stated that G.D. was “a DRUG DEALER who went to JAIL for FIVE YEARS for selling coke near a public school.” G.D. filed a lawsuit alleging defamation, violation of privacy, and other related torts, and named as defendants the Hudson County Democratic Organization and certain individuals, as the purported authors and distributors of the flyers.

Defendants assert truth as a defense. G.D. had been convicted of second-degree possession with intent to distribute cocaine and sentenced to a five-year prison term. Thirteen years later, he successfully petitioned for the expungement of his criminal record. Defendants reason that G.D.’s conviction was a public fact maintained as a public record long before the expungement and that the publication of that fact during a political campaign was a legitimate exercise of their free-speech rights and did not violate G.D.’s reasonable expectation of privacy.

*283 G.D. counters that the record of his conviction was expunged and, therefore, his conviction'—as a matter of law—is deemed not to have occurred. G.D. submits that, after the expungement of his record, the pronouncement that he was convicted of a crime was simply false and the dissemination of the expunged information violated his privacy rights.

The trial court denied the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. The Appellate Division reversed and dismissed G.D.’s causes of action, holding that the expungement of a public record—the record of a criminal conviction—does not, for purposes of defamation and the other related tort claims, render false a public fact.

The issue before us arises in the realm of political discourse, where speech is often harsh and caustic, but where the constitutional guarantee of free expression is given great latitude. Although our expungement statute relieves a prior offender of some civil disabilities, it does not extinguish the truth.

First, defendants in this case were entitled to assert truth as a defense to the defamation and other related tort actions, even though G.D.’s conviction was subject to an expungement order. Second, G.D. has failed to establish that the flyers were not substantially accurate. Last, G.D. had no reasonable expectation of privacy that information so long in the public domain before the entry of the expungement order would be erased from the public’s mind or from papers already widely disseminated. We therefore affirm the Appellate Division’s dismissal of G.D.’s claims on summary judgment.

I.

A.

In 1991, G.D., a resident of Union City, was charged in a three-count Hudson County indictment with possession of a controlled dangerous substance (cocaine), possession with intent to distribute *284 cocaine, and distribution of cocaine. 1 He pled guilty to second-degree possession with intent to distribute cocaine and, on January 8, 1993, was sentenced to a five-year (flat) state-prison term. 2 The remaining charges were dismissed. The Superior Court' judge who imposed sentence noted on G.D.’s judgment of conviction that “[t]he quantity of the drugs was substantial.”

From January 2000 to December 2001, G.D. worked as a part-time aide to then Hudson County Freeholder Brian Stack. He earned $6,000 per year in that position. That two-year period was the only time Stack ever employed G.D. Sometime afterward, G.D. worked at a day care center administered by Stack’s estranged wife. 3

On June 12, 2006, a Superior Court judge granted G.D.’s petition for an order expunging any record of his 1993 drug conviction as well as any record of his arrest and the charges. The expungement order directed that certain named law enforcement and judicial agencies not release information concerning the expunged records “for any reason except as authorized by law”; that those agencies respond to requests for information “that there is no record,” “except where otherwise authorized by law”; and that the “arrest ... shall be deemed not to have occurred, and [that G.D.] may answer accordingly.” The Department of Corrections continued to list G.D.’s conviction on its website as late as August 21, 2008. 4

*285 In 2007, Stack, who then was both the Mayor of Union City and a State Assemblyman, sought the Democratic nomination for State Senate. Stack was opposed by the Hudson County Democratic Organization, Inc. (Democratic Organization), whose chief executive officer was Bernard Kenny and whose executive director was Craig Guy. The Democratic Organization backed another candidate. G.D. supported Stack’s nomination but had no involvement in the Senate campaign.

The Democratic Organization hired a political consulting and advertising firm run by Richard and CareyAnn Shaftan—Neighborhood Research Corp., d/b/a Mountaintop Media (Mountaintop Media)—to work on the campaign opposing Stack’s election. 5 During the course of his investigation, Mr. Shaftan learned of G.D.’s 1993 drug conviction, and at some point he obtained the judgment of conviction. Mr. Shaftan claims that he was “led to understand that the site of the crime was close ... to a public school.” He never explained how he came to that understanding. He also claims that he had no knowledge of the expungement order during the election cycle.

Based on his research, Mr. Shaftan composed four campaign flyers attempting to discredit Stack in his bid for the State Senate nomination. The flyers were reviewed and approved by the Democratic Organization. Two of the flyers, printed in English and Spanish, disparaged Stack for his association with G.D. One flyer read as follows:

[Front]

IT’S THE COMPANY YOU KEEP and the sleazy crowd Brian Stack surrounds himself with says a lot about who Stack is.

COKE DEALERS AND EX-CONS.

*286 THAT’S THE KIND OF “REFORM” BRIAN STACK IS ALL ABOUT.

[Back]

YOU READ ABOUT DRUG DEALER [H.M.], A STACK CRONY CURRENTLY “WORKING” AT THE COUNTY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL AFTER BEING DEPORTED FOR SELLING COCAINE NEAR A PUBLIC SCHOOL. NOW READ ABOUT STACK REFORMER # 2

[Next to photograph of G.D.:] Like [H.M.], [G.D.] is also a DRUG DEALER who went to JAIL for FIVE YEARS for selling coke near a public school. After getting out of jail, [G.D.] landed a job as a highly paid “aide” to Mayor Stack.

[Next to photograph of G.D.:] Today, [G.D.] is an aide at the controversial Union City Day Care Center—assisting the embattled Mayor’s estranged wife.

DRUGS, GANGS, AND THUGS ARE NOT JUST A PROBLEM ON UNION CITY STREETS. THEYRE A PROBLEM IN STACK’S CITY HALL TOO. AND NOW HE WANTS A PROMOTION? ? ?

The second flyer did not mention G.D.’s name but displayed his photograph. It read as follows:

[Front]

[Photographs of three men] including G.D.:]

TEAM STACK:

COKE DEALERS. GUNRUNNERS. EX CONS

THE MORE PEOPLE KNOW, THE MORE QUESTIONS THEY HAVE ABOUT BRIAN STACK.

[Back]

UNION CITY MAYOR BRIAN STACK’S CLOSEST POLITICAL OPERATIVES: GUN RUNNERS, COKE DEALERS, EX-CONS.

We all know the threat that drugs and illegal guns have in our communities. But not Brian Stack. He c&ntinues to surround himself with one shady character after another—not one but two convicted drug dealers and ex-cons, whom Stack got a high paying county job and a drugged out gunrunning lowlife who was his campaign manager.

BRIAN STACK PREACHES “REFORM” AND “GOOD GOVERNMENT” BUT HIS ADMINISTRATION IS MADE UP OF SLEAZY DRUG DEALERS AND OTHERS WHO SHOULD BE NOWHERE NEAR THE PUBLIC TREASURY.

The Democratic Organization printed and paid for 17,100 copies of the first flyer and 17,100 copies of the second flyer. On May 23 and 25, 2007, 8,184 copies of each flyer were mailed to members of the public.

*287 B.

On June 29, 2007, G.D. filed a civil complaint alleging that defendants Bernard Kenny and the Hudson County Democratic Organization committed the torts of libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress by disseminating two false and defamatory campaign flyers. G.D. claimed that the flyers damaged his reputation and caused him severe emotional harm, entitling him to compensatory and punitive damages. On May 14, 2008, G.D. filed a second complaint concerning the same two flyers, seeking compensatory and punitive damages and naming as defendants: Craig Guy; Howard Demellier, Jr.; Raul (Rudy) Garcia and his wife, Nicole Harrison-Garcia; Richard and CareyAnn Shaftan; and Mountaintop Media. This second complaint asserted claims for libel, casting G.D. in a false light, misappropriating his name and image, improper publication of private facts, invasion of privacy, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy.

The trial court consolidated the two actions and, with the parties’ consent, entered an order both sealing the pleadings and directing the parties to maintain the confidentiality of documents submitted to the court. Defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that because the alleged defamatory statements were true, G.D. could not obtain relief on any of his claims. G.D. argued that the expunged conviction, as a matter of law, was a “non-event” and “deemed not to have occurred,” and therefore he moved to bar defendants from asserting truth as a defense. He also sought partial summary judgment on the ground that the flyers were defamatory per se.

C.

The trial court denied defendants’ and G.D.’s motions, substantially because the discovery process was in its incipient stage— there were no depositions—and therefore the court could not “adequately address the actual events leading up to the alleged defamatory flyer[s].” The court made some preliminary observa *288 tions based on the summary-judgment record before it: that G.D. was either a public figure or involved in a matter of public concern, that a court cannot “erase the memories of the general public who have knowledge of the criminal acts prior to the expungement,” and that “a party does not have a constitutionally protected privacy interest in his criminal conviction even if expunged.” But, in view of the uncompleted discovery process, the court came to no hard conclusions. Indeed, “given the proper set of circumstances, i.e., improper procurement of [G.D.’s] criminal history,” the court noted that defendants may be hable for defamation. Moreover, the court reserved judgment whether defendants “would have been under an obligation not to publish” the events contained in the expunged records if they knew that G.D.’s criminal history had been expunged. 6

D.

The Appellate Division granted both G.D.’s and defendants’ motions for leave to appeal and granted defendants’ motion to stay discovery pending appeal. The appellate panel then entered summary judgment in favor of defendants, dismissing all of G.D.’s claims. G.D. v. Kenny, 411 N.J.Super. 176, 197, 984 A.2d 921 (App.Div.2009).

The panel determined that G.D.’s “successful expungement of [his] record does not make defendants’ statements about that record ‘false.’ ” Id. at 188, 984 A.2d 921. The panel reasoned that because the information in the flyers was true—and that truth could not be extinguished by the expungement order—G.D. could not satisfy an essential element of a defamation cause of action. See id. at 187-88, 984 A.2d 921. The panel recognized that our expungement statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:52-1 to -32, does not answer the question whether expunged records may be used in a defama *289 tion action. Id. at 189, 984 A.2d 921. The panel found guidance from the courts of other jurisdictions that permitted truth as a defense to a defamation action when the claimed defamation consisted of the use of information in an expunged record. Id. at 189-92, 984 A.2d 921 (citing Rzeznik v. Chief of Police of Southampton, 374 Mass. 475, 373 N.E.2d 1128, 1130-31 (1978); Bahr v. Statesman Journal Co., 51 Or.App. 177, 624 P.2d 664, 665-67, review denied, 291 Or. 118, 631 P.2d 341 (1981)). In holding that defendants could rely on the truth contained in G.D.’s expunged criminal-conviction record, the panel concluded that, like those courts, it saw “no value in permitting plaintiff to use the expungement statute as a sword, rather than the shield it was intended to be.” Id. at 193, 984 A.2d 921 (citation omitted).

The panel also rejected G.D.’s argument that inaccuracies in the flyers stripped defendants of truth as a defense in a defamation action. Ibid. G.D. contended that one campaign flyer was inaccurate in stating that he sold drugs “near” a school and served five years in prison. Ibid. Nevertheless, the panel maintained that the statements were “fairly accurate.” Ibid. Observing that G.D.’s drug offense was committed in Union City, a municipality with twelve public schools in an area one mile long and one-quarter mile wide, the panel did not “consider the [flyer’s] reference to ‘near a public school’ to be misleading or unfair.” Ibid. Nor did it consider the flyer’s reference to G.D.’s sentence to be unfair, regardless of the time he actually served on his five-year prison term. Ibid.

The panel also found that truth—the substantial accuracy of the flyers—is a defense to the claims of intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, false light, invasion of privacy, and civil conspiracy. Id. at 195-97, 984 A.2d 921. With regard to those claims, the panel emphasized that the information about G.D.’s arrest was a matter of public record for sixteen years before entry of the expungement order and, even after the ex-pungement, the conviction remained on the Department of Corrections’ website. Id. at 195, 984 A.2d 921. Thus, the conviction was *290 not a private fact. Id. at 196, 984 A.2d 921. Finally, the panel declined to accept G.D.’s claim that the Shaftan defendants improperly misappropriated his name for a commercial purpose when the challenged speech in this case involved an election contest—a matter of public concern. Id. at 196-97, 984 A.2d 921.

We granted G.D.’s petition for certification. G.D. v. Kenny, 201 N.J. 498, 992 A.2d 793 (2010). We also granted the motions of North Jersey Media Group Inc., Electronic Privacy Information Center, New Jersey Press Association, Advance Publications, Inc., the Associated Press, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors to serve as amici curiae.

II.

G.D. contends that the Appellate Division erred in dismissing his defamation and privacy-tort claims. He makes four basic arguments. First, because his expunged conviction is deemed not to have occurred under the expungement statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:52-27, the publication of that conviction by defendants was a false and defamatory statement, and therefore defendants cannot invoke truth as a defense. Second, even if truth were a defense to the defamation claim, the information contained in one of the campaign flyers was not “fairly accurate” because he did not “sell” drugs, he did not go to jail for “five years,” and he did not commit an offense involving a “public school.” Third, concerning the privacy torts, defendants violated his reasonable expectation of privacy by publishing information about a highly personal matter that was expunged by law and therefore no longer contained in a public record. Last, the Appellate Division dismissed G.D.’s action prematurely, before virtually any discovery was taken, precluding inquiry into several areas, including how defendants came into possession of the expunged information.

Defendants counter that the expungement statute does not render a true statement false and that truth is a defense to a *291 defamation action and is protected under the First Amendment. Defendants maintain that the expungement statute does not obliterate the history or memory of a criminal conviction, or impinge on the right to speak freely, but only restricts use and access to the records of the conviction. Defendants also contend that the campaign flyers met the “fairly accurate” test in reporting G.D.’s possession-with-intent-to-distribute-drugs conviction. Defendants conclude that a truthful report of a matter within the public realm is neither defamatory nor violative of any privacy interest and that the Appellate Division, in the sensitive area touching on free speech, properly entered a timely order of summary judgment on G.D.’s non-actionable claims.

Amicus curiae North Jersey Media Group argues that, regardless of how expansively the expungement statute is read, both the First Amendment and defamation law protect the “accurate reporting of official records by the media” and prohibit the “imposition of civil or criminal sanctions for publication of true facts.” Similarly, the New Jersey Press Association and its companion amici posit that truth is not only a defense to a defamation claim, but “a constitutionally protected value,” and that the expungement statute cannot “erase the occurrence of events” or “transform an arrest or conviction into a private fact that would support an invasion of privacy claim.” On the other hand, amicus Electronic Privacy Information Center urges this Court to hold that the “truth” about an expunged conviction should not defeat a claim for invasion of privacy and to recognize that the privacy torts are distinct from defamation. In the Center’s view, an expunged criminal conviction is a private fact—regardless of its truth—and the publication of a private fact can be the basis of an invasion-of-privacy claim.

III.

A.

The facts in this case must be viewed in their proper context: statements made in the heat of a contentious political campaign. *292 We also must recognize that political discourse, even in its meanest form, is at the very core of free-speech protections.

With that backdrop in mind, we must determine whether the expungement statute negates truth as a defense to a defamation action when a person publishes information about an expunged conviction. In other words, in circumstances such as here, can speech about an expunged conviction, assuming that the speech is substantially accurate, be punished through a defamation action? The answer to that question requires us to determine the reach of the expungement statute and whether the expansive interpretation of that statute sought by G.D. would run afoul of the free-speech guarantees of our federal and state constitutions. And we must decide whether dissemination of information that was in the public domain—but is now the subject of an expungement order— violates a reasonable expectation of privacy. That is, are formerly public facts (an arrest and conviction) transformed into private ones by the expungement statute, thereby subjecting defendants in this case to the tort of invasion of privacy?

We begin our analysis with a review of the law of defamation.

B.

In a free society, “[t]he right to enjoy one’s reputation free from unjustified smears and aspersions,” Senna v. Florimont, 196 N.J. 469, 480, 958 A.2d 427 (2008), must be weighed against “[t]he significant societal benefit in robust and unrestrained debate on matters of public interest,” id. at 491, 958 A.2d 427. The law of defamation attempts to strike “the proper balance between protecting reputation and protecting free speech.” Ward v. Zelikovsky, 136 N.J. 516, 528, 643 A.2d 972 (1994).

To succeed in this defamation action, G.D. must prove three essential facts: (1) that defendants made a false and defamatory statement concerning G.D.; (2) that the statement was communicated to another person (and not privileged); and (3) that *293 defendants acted negligently or with actual malice. 7 See DeAngelis v. Hill, 180 N.J. 1, 13, 847 A.2d 1261 (2004). With respect to the defamation claim, the key question is whether the campaign flyers that referred to G.D. as a convicted drug dealer were true. There is no doubt that the flyers were defamatory.

A defamatory statement, generally, is one that subjects an individual to contempt or ridicule, id. at 13-14, 847 A.2d 1261 (citing Lawrence v. Bauer Publ’g & Printing Ltd., 89 N.J. 451, 459, 446 A.2d 469 (1982)), one that harms a person’s reputation by lowering the community’s estimation of him or by deterring others from wanting to associate or deal with him, Ward, supra, 136 N.J. at 529, 643 A.2d 972 (citing Restatement (Second) of Torts § 559 (1977)). To determine whether a statement is defamatory, a court looks “to the fair and natural meaning [to be given to the statement] by reasonable persons of ordinary intelligence.” Romaine v. Kallinger, 109 N.J. 282, 290, 537 A.2d 284 (1988) (quotation omitted). A statement falsely attributing criminality to an individual is defamatory as a matter of law. Id. at 291, 537 A.2d 284 (citations omitted).

In a defamation action, truth is not only a common-law defense, but also “absolutely protected under the First Amendment.” Ward, supra, 136 N.J. at 530, 643 A.2d 972 (citation omitted); see also Senna, supra, 196 N.J. at 496, 958 A.2d 427 (noting that under either actual-malice or negligence standard, truth is defense of constitutional magnitude in defamation case). Truth may be asserted as a defense even when a statement is not perfectly accurate.

*294 The law of defamation overlooks minor inaccuracies, focusing instead on “substantial truth.” Masson v. New Yorker Magazine, Inc., 501 U.S. 496, 516, 111 S.Ct. 2419, 2432-33, 115 L.Ed.2d 447, 472 (1991); see also Salzano v. N. Jersey Media Group Inc., 201 N.J. 500, 523, 993 A.2d 778 (2010) (discussing fair-report privilege and stating that “[a] fair report need not be a verbatim report; it is enough that the report be a rough-and-ready summary that is substantially correct” (citations and internal quotation marks omitted)). A court must consider a statement as a whole to determine the impression it will make on a reader. “Minor inaccuracies do not amount to falsity so long as ‘the substance, the gist, the sting, of the libelous charge be justified.’ ” Masson, supra, 501 U.S. at 517, 111 S.Ct. at 2433, 115 L.Ed.2d at 472 (citations omitted); see also Restatement (Second) of Torts, supra, § 611 (“The publication of defamatory matter concerning another in a report of an official action or proceeding or of a meeting open to the public that deals with a matter of public concern is privileged if the report is accurate and complete or a fair abridgement of the occurrence reported.”).

The main issue is whether the flyers, one of which described G.D. as “a DRUG DEALER who went to JAIL for FIVE YEARS for selling coke near a public school,” were false or substantially accurate. G.D. contends that, as a matter of law, the expungement of his conviction for possession with intent to distribute cocaine rendered the whole of that statement false.

We therefore next turn to New Jersey’s expungement statute and then examine its interrelationship with defamation law.

IV.

A.

New Jersey’s expungement-of-reeords statute, N.J.S.A 2C:52-1 to -32, is intended to provide “relief to the one-time offender who has led a life of rectitude and disassociated himself with unlawful activity.” N.J.S.A 2C:52-32. The relief provided by the ex- *295 pungement statute, however, does not include the wholesale rewriting of history.

A person convicted of a first-time crime may petition for ex-pungement of “all records and information” relating to the conviction after the passage of ten years “from the date of [the] conviction, payment of fine, satisfactory completion of probation or parole, or release from incarceration, whichever is later.” N.J.S.A. 2C:52-2(a). A court order of expungement does not result in the destruction of criminal records. Rather, the records described in the expungement order must be removed from the files of any government agency that is given notice of the ex-pungement petition in accordance with N.J.S.A. 2C:52-15. 8 The expunged records then must be isolated and placed in the control of a designated person within that agency. Ibid.; see also N.J.S.A. 2C:52-l(a). Generally, “[i]n response to requests for information or records” regarding the conviction, the agency is required to respond that “there is no record information.” N.J.S.A. 2C:52-15.

There are a number of exceptions to this general rule. For example, expunged records may be used in matters relating to decisions about diversion into a supervisory program, to the setting of bail, to the imposition of sentence, to parole decisions, and to a correctional facility’s classification decisions. N.J.S.A. 2C:52-17 to -23, -27. Moreover, although typically an offender whose record has been expunged can respond in the negative to a *296 question asking Mm if he has been convicted of a crime, here too there are exceptions. See N.J.S.A 20:52-27. He must reveal the fact of his conviction if “seeking employment within the judicial branch or with a law enforcement or corrections agency.” Ibid.

For purposes of the present case, perhaps the most pertinent exception to the expungement statute’s cloak of confidentiality is N.J.S.A. 2C:52-19. That section permits the inspection of expunged records if the Superior Court finds “good cause shown and compelling need based on specific facts,” and “only in those instances where the subject matter of the records of arrest or conviction is the object of litigation or judicial proceedings.” Ibid. Thus, in this case, if truth is a defense to a defamation action based on the publication of information contained in expunged records, tMs section ostensibly empowers a court to give defendants access to those records to establish the truth of their assertions. See State v. J.R.S., 398 N.J.Super. 1, 6, 939 A.2d 226 (App.Div.2008) (“Even after the entry of a judgment of expungement, [expunged] records remain available for certain limited purposes, including to satisfy discovery obligations in a civil smt.” (citing N.J.S.A 2C:52-19)).

B.

To support Ms position that expunged records should not be used to support truth as a defense in a defamation action, G.D. takes out of context the 1960 statement of Governor Meyner vetoing an amendment to a prior and completely different version of the current expungement statute. At the time of the Governor’s veto, the expungement statute then in place provided only for the expungement of “evidence of [the criminal] conviction.” See L. 1931, c. 345, §§ 1 to 3; L. 1936, c. 174, §§ 2, 3. The Legislature attempted to amend that statute to include expungement of records in cases in which charges and complaints were dismissed or withdrawn. Assemb. 480,184th Leg. (N.J.1959). On the occasion of issmng Ms veto, Governor Meyner stated in part:

*297 [T]he order would only expunge records in the court where the complaint was filed; a criminal complaint can and does generate a host of records in other places, and these would remain in existence but robbed of the official record to sustain them____ In what way would any newspaper accounts of the charge, or the personal recollections of those involved, be expunged? Suppose one with personal knowledge of the event were to declare its occurrence, and be sued for defamation; where would he get proof of the truth if the record were gone?

[Governor’s Statement to Assemb. No. 480,184th Leg. (N.J.1960).]

Nothing in that veto statement supports G.D.’s argument. Indeed, the portion of Governor Meyner’s written remarks not quoted by G.D. is entirely antithetical to Ms position, for the Governor also said that “mere expungement of the record does not serve to erase the fact itself.” Ibid, (emphasis added). That last statement suggests that the Governor understood that a plaintiff could not file a defamation action and claim that a “fact” was no longer a “fact” simply because a record was expunged. The current version of the expungement statute, particularly N.J.S.A. 20:52-19, which seemingly would permit access to expunged information in a defamation action, directly addresses the concerns so presciently raised by Governor Meyner.

C.

As can be seen, the expungement statute does not obliterate the record of a conviction. In specifically defined circumstances, a government agency subject to the expungement order may release information concerning the expunged record, and a convicted offender is required to answer truthfully about his past. Moreover, the breadth of the expungement statute—on its face—is limited to those government agencies that are statutorily required to be served with the expungement order. See N.J.S.A. 2C:52-10, -15.

On that basis, in E.A. v. New Jersey Real Estate Commission, the Appellate Division rejected the argument that the expungement statute compelled the New Jersey Real Estate Commission and New Jersey Department of Insurance to remove from their files information concerning the expunged conviction of a realtor whose license was suspended and later restored pursuant to the *298 Rehabilitated Convicted Offenders Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:168A-1 et seq. 208 N.J.Super. 65, 66-67, 504 A.2d 1213 (App.Div.1986). In limiting the reach of the statute, the Appellate Division distinguished a state licensing agency from the statutorily named law enforcement agencies and courts required to isolate and remove expunged records. Id. at 68, 504 A.2d 1213. The issue raised in E.A.—whether other state agencies might be subject to the ex-pungement statute—is not before us.

However, no one has argued that a newspaper that has reported on the arrest or conviction of a person whose record is later expunged must excise from its archives a past story or, similarly, that the New Jersey judiciary must razor from the bound volumes of its reporters a published case. Common sense tells us that an arrest or conviction may become general knowledge within a community and that people will not banish from their memories stored knowledge even if they become aware of an expungement order. And long before the entry of an expungement order, information about an arrest and conviction may be compiled by data aggregators and disseminated to companies interested in conducting background checks. See Report of the Supreme Court Special Committee on Public Access to Court Records 32, 46, 53 (2007). Through the internet, today, information is transmitted instantaneously to countless recipients everywhere around the globe. Id. at 38-39. All of the beneficial purposes of the ex-pungement statute, and the protections it provides, will not allow a person to fully escape from his past. The expungement statute— enacted at a time when law enforcement and court documents may have been stored in the practical obscurity of a file room—now must coexist in a world where information is subject to rapid and mass dissemination.

In arguing both that truth is not a defense to a defamation claim when the disclosure—even if substantially accurate-—is of an expunged record and that an expunged record should be accorded a reasonable expectation of privacy, G.D. turns our attention to N.J.S.A. 2C:52-30. That provision—subject to specific statutory *299 exceptions—makes the impermissible disclosure of an expunged record a violation of New Jersey’s Code of Criminal Justice. Ibid. It is a disorderly—persons offense if one “reveals to another the existence of an arrest, conviction or related legal proceeding with knowledge that the records and information pertaining thereto have been expunged.” Ibid, (emphasis added). G.D. basically argues that even if defendants lawfully acquired his criminal-conviction information, if they published that information knowing that it was expunged, defendants have committed an offense. By his reasoning, N.J.S.A. 2C:52-30 supports his position that the truth of an expunged offense cannot be a defense in a defamation action.

In disposing of the issues before us, we cannot avoid addressing this statute. The most extreme reading of N.J.S.A. 2C:52-30 would criminalize truthful speech on matters of public interest and concern. Although those employed in certain statutorily named government agencies that have custody of expunged records are clearly bound by N.J.S.A. 2C:52-30, a literal and overly broad reading of that statute likely would violate free-speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment and Article I, Paragrap