Would you go after a client that breaches a buyer brokerage agreement?

[Chris Elliott]

This question deals more with agency than investing but I figured there's enough agents on this site to get some good feedback.

Would you go after a client that breached a buyer brokerage agreement and bought with another Realtor? I had a lady I was working with that was looking to basically gut her retirement account to buy her son and pregnant daughter in law a house. Kids didn't have any money, credit, or stable employment so she was helping out. We signed a buyer-broker contract in Sept through the end of this year. For whatever they disappeared the first week of November after I had showed them a dozen or so houses . . wouldn't return phone calls or emails. To the best of my knowledge, I was kind, professional and responsive; I figured they just gave up their search. So I check tax records this morning and low and behold they closed on a house with another broker on 12/5.

First time this has happened to me. Given the knowledge I have of their situation and it being 6 days from Christmas, it's hard to want to enforce the contract. On the other hand, I'm not crazy about someone taking $3,000 out of my pocket. Spoke to my broker and he suggested I email her just to see how she responds. What would you do?