Litigation, merger and other non-routine costs, net of insurance recoveries include the following costs (amounts in thousands):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2018			2017			2016
Merger Related Costs:
Transfer taxes⁽¹⁾	$	—		$	(1,595	)	$	562
Litigation and other non-routine costs:
Audit Committee Investigation and related matters ⁽²⁾	$	59,755		$	49,434		$	24,207
Legal fees and expenses ⁽³⁾	530			421			311
Litigation settlements ⁽⁴⁾	233,246			—			—
Total costs	293,531			48,260			25,080
Insurance recoveries ⁽⁵⁾	(2,568		)	(300		)	(21,196		)
Total	$	290,963		$	47,960		$	3,884

___________________________________


(1)	The negative balance for the year ended December 31, 2017 is a result of estimated costs accrued in prior periods that exceeded actual expenses incurred.

(2)

Includes all fees and costs associated with various litigations and investigations prompted by the results of the 2014 investigation conducted by the audit committee (the “Audit Committee”) of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Audit Committee Investigation”), including fees and costs incurred pursuant to the Company’s advancement obligations, litigation related thereto and in connection with related insurance recovery matters, net of accrual reversals. During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company reversed an accrual of $10.9 million, as the Company was legally released from certain advancement obligations, and the accrued amounts were paid directly by the Company’s insurers to the payees subsequent to December 31, 2018. There were no reversals in the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016.


(3)	Includes legal fees and expenses associated with litigation resulting from prior mergers and related insurance recovery matters and excludes amounts presented in income from discontinued operations, net of income taxes in the consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018.


(4)	Refer to Note 10 – Commitments and Contingencies for additional information.


(5)	$2.3 million recorded during the year ended December 31, 2018 relates to litigation resulting from prior mergers.