Auto Insurance Claims: 3 car accident, ford explorer, accident scene

Question
Couple of weeks before I was involved in a 3 car accident in Ohio . I was going in free way ( 60 m speed limit)in my 98 Camry. It was raining heavily and visibility was poor. My speed was some where in between 50-60. Suddenly I saw that the car (a ford explorer), in front of me has applied breaks and has come to a stop. I slammed the breaks but could not avoid the car in front of me. I rear-ended the ford explorer. After the accident I came to know that there was a car in front of the ford explorer, which was rear-ended by the ford explorer. The first car has no damage or personal injury. Ford explorer had both front and back damage, no personal injury. My car had very bad front damage.  Cops came to the accident scene. The first car driver claimed that she felt only one hit. The ford explorer guy claimed that he hit the car in front of him due to my car rear-ending him. Cops found me at fault and gave me citation for the accident and let the other cars go. Mine was towed. But I feel that ford explorer had hit the small car in front of him before I rear-ended because
1. After the accident when I got out of my car and checked the accident scene, there was lot of distance between the small car and ford explorer. If ford explorer had hit the small car due to my car rear-ending, it would mean that they had minimum distance between them.
2. There was considerable damage to the front of ford explorer.
3. My car did not hit the ford explorer head on; rather the hood of my car was beneath the ford explorer because of the height difference. The damage to the front of my car was more due to the towing hook that the ford explorer had on its rear, which plunged in to my cars front damaging the radiator. (If there were no towing hook attached to the rear of ford explorer, my car would have suffered just bumper damages).
4. Since my car is smaller and since my car did not have a direct impact to the rear of ford explorer, my understanding is it cannot impart such high momentum to a heavier vehicle, which is at complete stop to move it and make it rear end a car that is at considerable distance.

I tried explaining the cops my side of the story and they said there is a possibility of that happening and I can contest if I want to.

I reported the accident to my insurance and my car was totaled. The ford explorers insurance called me and asked for my insurance information.

1.My question is whether I should contest or not. I accept my liability of rear-ending the ford explorer, but I feel that he is also at fault for hitting the car in front of him and that I am not responsible for the whole accident.

2.If I contest and win what advantages will I have?  Will it help incase ford explorer guy comes after me in future for any compensation.
3.If I contest and loose, what negative impact will I have?
4.If I pay my citation with 'no contest' what will be effects?
5. In future what ways/ in what cases, the other cars involved in the accident can come after me?
6. Can I demand for the investigation report from my insurance company about the accident? Is there a timeframe in which they need to complete the investigation report by law?

My insurance said that they have not completed their investigation and that they have not received a police report yet and is upto me whether I want to contest or not.

I am not sure what I should do at this point. I would appreciate if you can give your valuable suggestion. Thanks in advance!!


Answer
Hi Kevin-

I'm sorry to hear about your accident.  

I would recommend that you fight both the ticket and the findings of the insurance company if it comes back against you.  I don't know if you will win but I see no disadvantage in trying. The fact that the driver in front doesn't have anything to gain by what she is saying hurts your case somewhat. The citation definitely hurts your case. The one thing that would help you the most is an eye witness to the case if you can find someone.   
If you are are found responsible for the accident and for the ticket your insurance rates will most likely be impacted signicantly.  
Depending on the statute of limitations in Ohio, someone could claim they were injured up to one year from now although usually you would know immediately.
I'm not sure what the insurance code says for how long the insurance company has, but I've always found it to be fairly quick -within a week or two usually.  

Sheldon Maughan
Sacramento, Ca