National Bank v. Matthews was a United States Supreme Court case that addressed the issue of whether a national bank could be held liable for the negligence of its employees. The case arose when a customer of the National Bank of St. Louis, Missouri, sued the bank for damages resulting from the negligence of its employees. The customer alleged that the bank had failed to properly secure his funds, resulting in a loss of money. The Supreme Court held that a national bank could be held liable for the negligence of its employees. The Court reasoned that the bank was responsible for the acts of its employees, and that the customer had a right to expect that the bank would exercise reasonable care in the handling of his funds. The Court also noted that the bank had a duty to its customers to ensure that their funds were properly secured. The Court's decision in National Bank v. Matthews established that national banks could be held liable for the negligence of their employees. This decision has been cited in numerous cases since, and has been used to support the idea that banks have a duty to their customers to exercise reasonable care in the handling of their funds.

Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion in National Bank v. Matthews, arguing that the majority had incorrectly interpreted the law and failed to consider its implications for other cases. He argued that Congress did not intend to grant national banks a special privilege when it passed legislation allowing them to sue in federal court without regard to diversity of citizenship or amount in controversy. Instead, he believed Congress intended only for such suits as those brought by individuals against corporations chartered by different states; thus, he concluded that this case should have been dismissed because there was no diversity of citizenship between the parties involved. Furthermore, Justice Field argued that if national banks were allowed to bring suit regardless of whether they met jurisdictional requirements then any citizen could do so as well - an outcome which would be contrary to congressional intent and lead to chaos within our judicial system.