Kathy's Estate Sales LLC

I live in Texas and my mom's house is in Arizona.  My mom had a series of strokes and is convalescing at my sister's home in California.  Since my mom can no longer live alone, I am responsible for disposing of her personal effects and her house.
I selected Kathy's Estate from three estate sales companies in Phoenix.  I contacted Kathy on 2/23 and we talked about what I was needing for my mom?s house and she told me all about her company, why she got started in this business and her staff of 10 people who worked for her. I sent an email to Kathy on 2/29 confirming I?d be in town the week of 4/16 and that we could walk through my mom?s house then.  
I scheduled a trip trip to Arizona as did my sister and brother-in-law in California to come to the house that same week and pick up some of my mom's special things that she wanted from the house.
On 4/17, Kathy and I met at my mom?s house and I walked her through the house.  I walked Kathy through every room, opened every closet, the garage ? including the storage cabinets there ? and the back yard.  She agreed to take the job at 50% of the proceeds from the sale (because of the enormous amounts of clutter).  She stated she?d need two weeks to prepare for sale which was set for May 4 and 5 and that she?d begin on the house on 4/23.  I signed a contract with Kathy with those stipulations and I supplied her with a key to the front door.  
On April 30th, I returned Kathy's call to me while I was out of touch at a conference.  She stated she had a family emergency and that she would need to put the sale off 3 weeks to May 24 and 25 because she would only be able to spend one day a week at the house (even with a staff of 10 people).  I agreed to the date change.  At this time, she expressed her concern over the number of items that could be sold due to the many items soiled by animal urine (my mom had a cat).  Kathy was concerned that she wouldn?t get much over expenses (which was at the time, ?over $900?) from her half of the sale proceeds, so I suggested we amend the distribution to ensure her expenses are paid out of the sale proceeds first (with an itemized list of expenses) and then we would divide the remaining proceeds 50/50.  Kathy stated that this was more than fair and agreed.  
On 5/15, I called to catch up and ask Kathy about some items that had been thrown away (I have a family friend that kept an eye on things for me in AZ).  She agreed that if an item did not have animal waste on it, it was given the opportunity to be sold and if it was not sold at the sale, it would be donated.  Since my friend, had seen clothes, books, blankets and even some of the 50- to 100-year-old furniture thrown away, she asked the woman working there that day why the books were being thrown away, the woman told my friend that there was no market for them (they were not ruined with animal waste). 
My friend contacted me and I called Kathy.  She stated to a certainty that everything in the dumpster was ruined by animal waste.  I reiterated our agreement that all items not ruined were to be given the opportunity to be sold at the sale and then donated if not sold.  She assured me this was the case. We continued to catch up.  Kathy actually sounded excited to me because she had two sales in the same area on the same weekend, which she thought should bring in more traffic for both sales.
Then I got an email from Kathy on 5/22 dated the evening of 5/21 stating that she quit and she was not going to hold a sale and she wanted $968 in expenses.  I responded on 5/23 stating that since there were no proceeds from a sale, there was nothing from which to pay her. 
My friend went through the house after Kathy's left and found all clothing -- both hanging in closets and that were in dresser drawers -- were all thrown away.  The dumpster was gone, so we couldn't retrieve the antique furniture thrown away and sell it to someone that wanted to restore it (I have a statement from a professional woodworker and furniture restorer that solid wood furniture can be restored to like new -- which is what Kathy told me as well).  We couldn't retrieve the perfectly good items tossed in the dumpster that could be sold or donated.
So my mom is out a considerable amount of money for lost property that was arbitrarily thrown away as well as the people that could have benefited from the donations.  And I have to still, from Texas, derive and orchestrate another plan to dispose of my mom's personal effects.  Kathy's decision to breach our contract left me in a tough position which will cause me and others a lot of work, expense, time and inconvenience.