A Butler man has dropped a lawsuit alleging he suffered life-changing brain injuries when he was assaulted by a Butler County Prison guard.

Devon C. Kuhn’s lawsuit, which acknowledged that he did not recall the alleged 2009 incident that left him permanently injured, had been in United States District Court since May 2011.

On Wednesday, Magistrate Judge Cathy Bisson approved a request by Kuhn’s attorney, John Smarto of Pittsburgh, to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning Kuhn can never refile it.

Smarto could not be reached for comment.

Attorney Marie Milie Jones, who represented the prison, said there was no settlement.

“We believed the case did not have merit, and perhaps they finally agreed,” Jones said.

Kuhn, 37, had alleged he suffered permanent injuries while he was in the prison on an alleged misdemeanor theft. City police alleged Kuhn had stolen a neighbor’s bicycle.

The lawsuit had alleged that a day after Kuhn was arrested, he got into an argument with a prison guard, who is not identified. Kuhn alleges the guard then beat him, particularly on the left side of his head.

Kuhn was taken from the prison by ambulance to Butler Memorial Hospital, then flown by helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he had surgery on an injury to his brain.

The lawsuit alleges Kuhn had been in a hospital or rehabilitation center ever since and will never fully recover.

Court records indicate county officials disputed Kuhn’s claims, asserting he appeared to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of his arrest and later showed signs of withdrawal. The county’s legal papers allege Kuhn began “acting strangely. He attempted to eat a book, and fell off the toilet in his cell.”

Kuhn, who had been moved to a padded cell, was taken by ambulance to the hospital when he “began to mumble and shake,” the county’s legal paperwork states.

The county’s legal responses also disputed that Kuhn has been in the hospital since this incident.

“Kuhn has been an inmate again in the Butler County Prison for some months ...” it states.

Unrelated court records say Kuhn was arrested for violating the probationary terms of a 2012 drunken driving conviction last fall. Kuhn, who was released from prison on that case late last month, could not be reached for comment.