I've been rear-ended a couple of times. In all cases, I talked to their insurance and said, "They had the responsibility to maintain a safe driving distance, it doesn't matter what I did, they can't rear end me," and that has been an argument that has always completely worked: they've always taken full responsibility for the accident.
(To be clear, I wasn't intentionally provoking anything: in one case I hit my brakes because the car in front of me panic-stopped, in another I was in a right-turn-yield-into-another lane situation and I checked my blindspot and found that there was a car who had right-of-way, so I hit my brakes to keep from encroaching on them.)
I think you probably did. I was making a right turn at a controlled intersection. Specifically, the dedicated right turn lane was controlled by a yield sign. I had slowed and was preparing to merge into the other lane, checked my blind spot over my shoulder, and found that there was a car in my blind spot, so I braked to let it pass me (since the yield sign gave it right of way). The car behind me failed to react to my breaking and rear-ended me.
(To be clear, I wasn't intentionally provoking anything: in one case I hit my brakes because the car in front of me panic-stopped, in another I was in a right-turn-yield-into-another lane situation and I checked my blindspot and found that there was a car who had right-of-way, so I hit my brakes to keep from encroaching on them.)