The Company leases its facilities under non-cancelable operating leases. In addition to monthly lease payments, the lease agreements require the Company to reimburse the lessors for its portion of operating costs each year. Rent expense was $1.9 million and $1.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018.
The following is a schedule of future minimum lease payments as of December 31, 2019 (in thousands):
  
Amount
Year ending December 31:
20202,575  
20212,793  
20222,762  
20232,578  
20242,394  
Therafer9,231  
$22,333  

About Commitments Disclosures

Commitments and contingencies disclosures catalog a company's off-balance-sheet obligations and legal exposures — purchase commitments, guarantee arrangements, pending litigation, and regulatory proceedings. These items represent potential future cash outflows that may not appear as liabilities on the balance sheet until they become probable and estimable.

Key signals: litigation reserves and disclosed loss ranges quantify management's estimate of legal exposure, but unquantified "reasonably possible" losses often represent the larger risk. Watch for changes in language around pending cases — shifts from "remote" to "reasonably possible" or increases in estimated loss ranges signal deteriorating outcomes. Unconditional purchase obligations and take-or-pay contracts create fixed cost structures that reduce operational flexibility. Guarantee arrangements for subsidiaries or joint ventures can create cascading obligations. Compare the total commitment schedule against projected free cash flow to assess whether the company can meet its obligations without additional financing.