In California, cyclists win only 1/3 court cases involving car/bike situations.

Regardless of who's at fault, if you think you can trust completely impartial abstract justice to make the right call, you'll be sadly wrong. Juries are stacked with people who are frustrated drivers who merely view bikes as obstacles.

You also can't continually provoke someone to attack you and expect everyone to sympathize. If the situation were reversed, and the riders were being completely legal and a car decided to mess with them by getting in their way and interposing, you bet your life that would factor in too.