That's a very interesting article, thank you for sharing it. You make such a valid point, and I believe most of us here will agree that a large enough sum could never be offered to compensate for our babies.
My furbaby is just that, my "baby", and thus priceless. The Green Party here in Germany is trying to have pets classified as something other than "property", and I'm all for it. If somebody poisons, shoots or tortures my cat, I can sue them for "property damage", and that's it. The authorities might charge them with cruelty to animals, but they'd only have to pay a small fine.
There can be no measurable value for my Trent and Ophelia, just like for any other family member. As laws stand now, beyond expenses all you can sue for is cost of replacement since they are "just property". Some laws have been brought up (Colorado even had one last year, but it failed) that would change the terminology and legal status from "Owner" to "Guardian". The vet associations lobbied hard against it, so they couldn't be held liable for anything more than the cost of replacement (i.e. a mixed breed you could only get the adoption cost from a shelter, if that).