Detroiters with
the same names
provide often
hilarious stories.

JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

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few days after Ron Klein
asked out Judie, the
woman who is now his
wife, his phone rang. It
was Judie. She had heard
from a friend that Ron was
getting married in three
weeks and wanted to
know why he was asking
her out.
When Judie called him 28 years
ago, it was the first time Mr. Klein
learned there was another Ron
Klein.
Mr. Klein estimates there have
been between 35 and 40 situa-
tions or mix-ups since.
Mr. Klein once went to vote in
Royal Oak and was told he could
not. His signature did not match
the one on file, until they turned
the page and saw another Ron
Klein.
Their names are the same.
Sometimes, their wives' names
are the same. Sometimes their
childrens' names are even the
same. And they all have unusual
stories to tell about the mix-ups
that can happen if their paths
cross — or even when they don't.
These are the people who re-

ceive unfamiliar letters
and phone calls and are
used to explaining to
friends of the other per-
son that, "You have the
right name but the
wrong person."
"It get's frustrating
sometimes," said
Michael Schwartz, an at-
torney but not the same
Michael Schwartz who
is a member of the West
Bloomfield Board of
Trustees and partners
with Geoffrey Fieger,
Jack Kevorkian's lawyer.
"During Kevorkian's
heyday I constantly got
calls from the media, in-
cluding the 'Jerry
Springer Show,' and papers from
around the country. They would
ask me my thoughts. I had to be
honest and tell them they had the
wrong Michael Schwartz. I com-
mitted his number to memory"
Mr. Schwartz, of Franklin, said
he still gets about three or four
phone calls a month for the other
Michael Schwartz and as many
as three misdirected mailings a

phone company that he
month.
Attorney Michael
had been in high school at
In college, Mr. Schwartz Bolton can help
clients "get back
the time, so the bill could
indirectly crossed paths on their feet
with another Michael again."
not have been his. The
charges were waived.
Schwartz. The phone com-
pany threatened to shut off
I resin J. Shapiro of
his service until he paid a year-
West Bloomfield goes
old outstanding bill from the dorm
by the name Bud.
during his freshman year at the
Years ago, a relative
University of Michigan.
introduced him to another Bud
Mr. Schwartz explained to the Shapiro. Ironically, both men were