"..."unique' value to the owner"

A nearby animal hospital has been sued numerous times for malpractice;
today a judgment for $39,000, the highest yet awarded for a dog, was
entered against one of the vets. The jury determined the market value
of the dog was $10, the compensation for the vet bills,$9,000. The
remainder was for the animal's 'unique value to the owner'.
This is new ground.
You can read the story he
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,5505072.story
The LATimes is subscription; if this doesn't work, I'll copy it for
you.