Sims v. NEW FALLS CORP.

The question in this case is what state’s law applies to a note secured by a mortgage, where both instruments were executed simultaneously as part of the same transaction, and the mortgage contains a choice of law provision but the note does not. I conclude that the same choice of law applies to both.

Eugene and Christine Sims (“the borrowers”) are Florida residents who obtained a $50,000 loan in 1998. They executed a note and second mortgage which was placed on the borrowers’ Georgia real estate.6 The borrowers signed the note and mortgage while traveling to New Jersey. The original lender…