Pacific Bank v. Mixter was a United States Supreme Court case that addressed the issue of whether a bank could be held liable for the negligence of its employees. The case involved a dispute between Pacific Bank and Mixter, a customer of the bank. Mixter had deposited a large sum of money with the bank, and the bank had failed to properly safeguard the funds. Mixter sued the bank for negligence, and the bank argued that it could not be held liable for the negligence of its employees. The Supreme Court held that the bank could be held liable for the negligence of its employees. The Court reasoned that the bank had a duty to its customers to exercise reasonable care in safeguarding their funds, and that the bank had failed to do so. The Court also noted that the bank had a duty to its customers to ensure that its employees were properly trained and supervised, and that the bank had failed to do so. The Court concluded that the bank was liable for the negligence of its employees, and that Mixter was entitled to damages.

In Pacific Bank v. Mixter, the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a bank could be held liable for failing to pay out money from an account that had been frozen due to a dispute between two parties. The majority opinion found in favor of the bank and ruled that it did not have any liability in this case because it acted within its rights when freezing the account until resolution of the dispute between the two parties. However, Justice Field dissented from this decision and argued that banks should be held responsible for their actions when they freeze accounts without proper cause or authority. He reasoned that if banks are allowed to act with impunity then customers will suffer losses as a result of such arbitrary decisions by financial institutions. Furthermore, he noted that banks should not be able to use their power over customer funds as leverage against them during disputes with other individuals or entities since doing so would create an unequal balance of power which is contrary to public policy goals regarding fairness and justice in commercial transactions.