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In answer to the claim that fault is always assigned to the rear driver in a rear-end collision, this is not 100% accurate. There are many cases where partial or full liability can be assigned to the forward vehicle in a collision. For instance, if the forward vehicle has inoperable lighting to the rear at night, inoperable brake lights, etc. Claims are routinely pro-rated due to equipment defects. Normally the two insurance companies work out the division of fault (and thus payment) between the two. If a governmental authority such as a collision analyst makes the determination that faulty lighting/equipment was at least partly, if not fully, the cause of the collision then the person with the faulty lighting has a long way to go in court to prove otherwise.
A civil case generally costs $5,000-15,000 to get into the courtroom the first day, and adding things like expert witnesses and accident scene reconstruction, etc, greatly increases that cost. In a case like this where one person had clearly illegal equipment modifications it will be nearly impossible to reverse the findings of the accident investigator and the insurance company adjusters.
It's a common myth that the vehicle doing the rear-ending is always automatically at fault, no matter what. There are no laws or codes anywhere that I know of that specifically state that.
I reiterate to the OP, chalk it up as a lesson learned and move on. Hopefully the other rider won't sue you for his damages.
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