The person I avoided hitting didn't get hit by me and much to my surprise, didn't hit the person in front of him. Everyone drove away. I thought there were at least 5 vehicles involved for sure. It turned out that it just ended up being me and the person who rear ended me.

Since you say you have some experience with this, it sounds like you may know my outcome already. I will call my insurance company in the morning and see if I can talk to someone about legal issues. Ugh. Thank you for your replies.