Faced with unclear case law and the prospect of 34,000 homes across Connecticut suffering from crumbling concrete, a federal judge has asked the state’s highest court to further define “collapse” in order to help determine whether homeowners’ insurance policies will apply.

The ruling issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill in Karas v. Liberty Insurance may finally clear up a thorny question of insurance law that, he said, “raises important issues of public policy, and is likely—indeed, almost certain—to recur.”