Carbon Monoxide poisoning CA.

I moved into my current apartment about 4 months ago, I signed a 1 year lease, did the walkthrough, pointed out the things that needed to be fixed, and assumed that it would be taken care of.
It took 3 months for them to replace a fridge that did not work, the air/heater does not blow into either of the bedrooms, and I complained MULTIPLE times about the clunking noise that my hot water heater was making.
I had been having bad migranes, and my husband had been having them also, since we moved into these apartments, and we assumed they were just from stress.
I had a sub-contractor come out to weather strip my apartment, and as they were sealing the closet that my hot water heater is in (which is directly across from both bedrooms inside the house) the tech started getting light headed and decided to test the house for carbon monoxide. The normal levels of carbon monoxide in an apartment is 28 ppm, deadly levels are 100ppm, and the reading in my house was 1,800ppm, a LETHAL amount of carbon monoxide. The tech then called the electric company to come shut everything off. The tech from the electric company told us, that if we had not caught this we would probably be dead by the end of the week.
When I approached the manager for the apartments to come and speak with the gentleman from the electric company, he told me that it wasnt his problem, that he would send a maintance person to speak with the guy. when the maintance guy got here, he told the tech that he didnt know what he was talking about.
I have a 9 month old baby that I stay home with everyday, so for the past 4 months my son has been breathing this gas. The levels have progressively gotten worse as we have been using our heater, and this was distributing it throughout the house.
I got everything in writting from both the sub contractor, and the electric company. I have pictures of everything wrong with this apartment, that I have reported MANY times. I want to know if I can sue the L.L. for neglecting to fix these issues that could have killed us, and could affect us for the rest of our lives.

One thing missing is electrical water heater don't make CO. Did you mean the gas company?

I agree. Electric furnances or water heaters don't make CO.

The fridge is fixed so you can't sue over that. Did you complain about the water heater in writing so you have a record of the LL receiving the complaint? If you did, you could have taken advantage or repair and deduct remedies or rent withholding since hot water is a habitability issue. But unless you can prove the LL knew that the water heater was seriously broken or was putting out CO, you may not have a case. He would have had no prior knowledge of it.

It's a crap shoot for sure. You would need to find out when the water heater was installed and any service dates. Did any of the service records mention issues with CO. Most likely there is little to no paper trail to follow if this is a mom and pop operation. If its a bigger company all payments are track on computer. But getting to this info will not be easy. You would have better luck finding who they call to service there WH and getting info from the service company. You can check with the county for building permits, more are online these days.
I would request a CO detector be installed if your still living there. You need to know what cause the WH to malfunction, as many more of the apt's could be having the same issue. Might just be an install issue (not to code) This is where you can build your case, also now the LL does no about your WH making CO. With your request for a detector also send so info on the family that died last week in aspen co.

I face virtually the same issue. Thanks for the helpful hints!

Your story is my story and a whole lot of other people's stories. It's a phenomenon that I can't fully grasp. I'm discovering no "professionals" and no governmental department in my town are any help at all, primarily, due to lack of knowledge. I don't understand why they are unknowledgeable since CO info's been around for a hundred years or more. And their lack of knowledge and actions explain why CO is America's #1 unintentional poisoning!!

I think education is the key. So, more info here with a few articles and lots of links:

Chronic CO Poisoning: Comedy of Errors
Durango Guardian--The Eyes, Ears, Voice of the People, for LaPlata County, Colorado

Chronic CO Poisoning: What Is It?
Durango Guardian--The Eyes, Ears, Voice of the People, for LaPlata County, Colorado

This site has some great charts from a study on CO victims which support what you experienced and me too:
The Effects of Cronic Exposure to CO - Copyright 1997 CO Support - Purpose of Study

u can find out more about this subject on toxcrime.com