Yeah, funny how people "change their minds".. Relating to an accident I was in, I got served with a lawsuit exactly three years (minus 1 day) after the fact. That was the statute of limitation--3 years. Took the guy 3 years to figure out he was "injured".
Insane guy* in a Volvo broadsides me on the driver's side as I'm making a (permissible) U-turn. Dry, sunny day; 5 p.m. on a Sunday. Impact happened when I was already finishing the turn, in the "oncoming" lane and he hit me right at the level of the front wheel, not in the rear for some strange reason (he was going way too fast).
Some funny/scary things from the whole procedure (I had to go through discovery, but my ins. co. settled before it went to trial):
His "injuries" stemmed from "having hit the brakes so hard."!
(The Volvo only had a slightly dented front corner and cracked headlight).
His very aggressive, very creepy lawyer attacked every statement I made (of course, that's his job..). I'd taken photos of the huge skid marks (something like 50'-60').
"How do we know the skid marks were made by that car?"
(Uhh.. 'cause I'm an honest person?)
Then they tried to imply that I was driving without my glasses on..
("No, my glasses flew from my head when your client's car hit me.")
Then they asserted that my recollections weren't worth much since they were 3 years after the fact!! (That takes b*lls!)
Since I was right down the street from the police and fire station, we had three cop cars, an ambulance and two fire trucks show up! The Volvo people didn't claim any injuries, nor did I, and I wish I had a copy of the police report (I threw out all that stuff when I moved) because the cop had the guy down as the "defendant" or the "perpetrator".. some phrasing like that! I don't know what power that would have had in court, but the insurance report had put me in the clear, paid for my (totaled) car, and the accident hadn't gone on my record. Don't know what that would have been worth in court, either.
I wasn't allowed to find out what the settlement was, or even if there was any, since that's apparently the way the no-fault system is set up.
But.. document everything! Get the police or the insurance investigator in on it as quickly as possible, and get names of witnesses (I hadn't). See if they are even willing to give a notarized statement.. you never know when someone will come out of the woodwork like insane Volvo guy*.
*I call him insane Volvo guy 'cause he was screaming and yelling and cursing and charging around like a maniac, to the point where I was afraid to get out of the car. Bystanders had to fend him off! He was jumping around pretty damn good on his "injured" foot -- Hey! maybe that's what caused the injury!...